Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Biblio-Connecting Jul 5, 2011 to the Mar 2, 2018

Mar 02, 2010:

James Caudle, Associate Editor of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, prepares to correspond with Terry Seymour, an independent researcher, and with me, a volunteer online cataloguer. We are working on separate but similar projects concerning James Boswell. Terry is compiling a provenance record of the Boswell Family Library intended for publication. I am cataloguing the Boswell Library online at Library Thing, a website where one can catalogue books for all to view. James Caudle says to himself, "You should connect these guys... so they can exchange research findings where relevant. " So he sends an email introducing us to each other.

And that's what this piece is all about: how a bibliophile connects with other people in the book world, corresponds with them, and even meets some of them. It is also about how one person evolves from being an avid reader to becoming an enthusiastic book collector and then to becoming a raving bibliomaniac.

Biblio-Connecting begins!

Jun 1985:
I am stationed at RAF Mildenhall, England about 70 miles northeast of London, serving my last tour in the U.S. Air Force before retiring in 1989. Shortly after my arrival, I buy a 1985 Toyota van, known in England as a Toyota Space Cruiser. While the van is being initially serviced at the dealership in Bury St Edmunds, I browse the antique stores and book stores in the town. I am astounded at the low cost of "old" dictionaries and quotation books –– less than £1. I buy enough books to fill the back of my new van. I had always been an avid reader. Now I want books to keep. I am a book collector!

Note: "old" to newbie book collector me is 'the early 1900s."

Aug, 1985
The book pictured above, lacking both of its covers, significantly expands my horizons as a book collector. It is laying on top of a bookcase in an antique store in one of the villages near RAF Mildenhall, England. My wife is looking at antique furniture, so I pick up the book and start reading it. It is a book of essays, an odd volume of The Works of Samuel Johnson, published in 1806, the Idler essays, to be exact. I am so absorbed in reading the book that the antique store owner lets me keep it. The fact that my wife bought some antique furniture may have had something to do with his generosity.

Sep 1985:
I am at a book fair in Long Melford, Suffolk County, England and notice a 1776 edition of The Rambler by Samuel Johnson:

I enjoyed reading The Idler essays so much that I want more. I buy my first of many Samuel Johnson works. A Samuel Johnson Collector I am!

Sep 1985 –– Jun 1989:

I am a regular customer at Faith Legg's Guildhall Bookroom in Eye, Suffolk County, England. Faith sees that I am building not so much a collector's library , but a reader's library, so she introduces me to the numerous inexpensive trade editions published by J.M. Dent and others. She also gives me a pamphlet which puts a serious dent in the family bank account. She replaces the pamphlet with updated editions each year. What a bookseller!

This pamphlet contains the names, addresses, phone numbers, and specialties of all the booksellers who are members of the Provincial Booksellers Fair Association. Each weekend, my wife and I visit the bookstores listed in the pamphlet as well as the antique stores located in the village. We go to Trinder's Bookseller in Clare, Suffolk County, England one weekend. On the bargain table, my wife finds this book:

Cambridge, England is just a short drive from RAF Mildenhall. And there are over ten used and antiquarian bookstores in Cambridge. One of my first purchases here is The Crowned Masterpieces of Eloquence, edited by Augustine Birrell, an author I would become most familiar with.

My biggest buy, however, is in Hay-on-Wye, Richard Booth's town of books:

In Hay-on-Wye, I buy thirty-eight volumes of Johnson's Poets, some of which contain an armorial book stamp. It will take me over fifteen years to identify the owner of the bookstamp, John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745-1799).

And then there are the London bookstores, especially Nigel Burwood's Any Amount of Books on Charing Cross Road. We drive to the outskirts of London and take The Tube the rest of the way. I purchase too many books in London to mention here. But I should mention "the ones that got away." I have the opportunity to buy all the supplements to Sonnenschien's Best Books, but pass them up because I already have an armful of books. When I go back to buy them several weeks later, they were no longer there.

Rick Arlotta, my friend and pinochle partner in England, builds the sewing press pictured below for me. I discover I have a knack for rebinding books, and buy collectible books in need of repair at greatly reduced prices.

I write a definition paper for a College English class at RAF Mildenhall. The piece, appropriately titled "Moi the Bibliomaniac," is a fitting summary of my early book collecting days in England.

Jun 1989:
I am back in the states, residing in Florida, on terminal leave from the Air Force. I will retire in September with almost twenty-three years of service. My first book-related question is "Where are all the book stores?" England spoiled me! On one hand, I can count the number of used and antiquarian bookstores in a twenty-mile radius of my home. I can count on two hands the number of used and antiquarian bookstores in a fifty-mile radius of my home. Faye Wilson's bookstore on Jasmine Blvd is the closest, and Mike Slicker's Lighthouse Books in St. Petersburg is the best the area has to offer.

Jun 1989 – Aug 1998

Once I get settled in, I subscribe to AB Bookman's Weekly. I had picked up a copy of it at the ABAA book fair in London in June, 1989. Each week I scrutinize the lists of books for sale.

I also start buying books about books from Oak Knoll Books, acquiring many of their catalogues along the way.

Jul 1989 – May 1997:
I start working full time for Waldenbooks in the nearby mall. I convert to working part-time at night in May 1990 when my day job becomes delivering the mail for the Post Office. I continue to work for Waldenbooks until May 1997 when working two jobs becomes too much.

Mar 1990 - Mar 2003:
Every March I attend the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, and usually make a sizable amount of purchases.

Aug 09, 1998:
I sign up for eBay. My user id is moi_the_bibliomaniac. eBay quickly becomes my primary source of books, In the next 12 years I will leave feedback for 959 transactions and receive feedback for 834 transactions from 750 different eBay buyers and sellers. This is a list of some of my early eBay purchases:

Apr 04, 1999:
I post to rec.collecting.books (RCB) for the first time. My user id is moibibliomaniac. RCB is an unmoderated usenet group for discussion of all aspects of book collecting. Scot Kamins had announced the formation of the group on Jun 12, 1996. Mike Berro kept the RCB FAQ up to date. I will post to RCB over 1500 times in the next eight years, corresponding off-list with about 10 members of the group.

Nov 15, 1999:
On eBay, I sell some books I no longer want in my book collection to Asta Beckett, a bibliophile from California. We become friends and share hundreds of emails in the years to come.

Nov 21, 1999:
I create my first webtv website, Mois Books About Books, to display my ever-expanding Books About Books Collection. I will eventually have three webtv websites to display all my collections. One of my webtv websites has a domain name, MoisLibrarydotcom with links to all my collections. Webtv is a device that provides internet browsing and email service that is displayed on a television. The display looks lousy on a computer screen. To view it more clearly, it is best to highlight the page when it comes up. To view the entire website, page by page, click "next page" in the bottom right-hand corner.

Dec 03, 2000:
On eBay, I acquire the first seven volumes of the eight-volume set of the First American Edition of Shakespeare's Plays and Poems, published in 1795 and 1796. I acquired Volume VIII several months earlier. I may have the only complete set of the First American Edition of Shakespeare's Works in private hands.

Jan 14, 2001:
Ed Schaeffer, a member of the RCB group, and the webmaster of JamesBoswell.com, invites me to join the Johnsonian Group on Yahoo, a mailing list dedicated to Samuel Johnson. Looking at the membership list, I notice the names of a number of Johnsonian scholars.

Sep 24, 2001:
Sandy Malcolm, a bibliophile from London, posts to RCB for the first time. In the next few months we learn that we have similar book collecting interests, and begin corresponding. Sandy becomes my "London agent" and I become his "American agent," paying for and shipping books across the pond to each other.

Nov 2001: In an email, I introduce Asta Beckett and Sandy Malcolm to each other. Soon, we are sending joint emails. The Three Amigos we are! Sandy visits Asta in California a few years later. And I meet Asta at the airport in California on my way to Hawaii one year.

Prior to publication in the London newspaper, The Independent, Gabriel Austin emails Nicholas Barker's obituary of Mary Hyde Eccles to family members and friends in the book world. I am one of his friends. I had responded to one of Gabriel Austin's threads on the Ex-Libris-L about a year earlier, and we had been corresponding ever since. ExLibris-L is a mailing list for librarians, booksellers and book collectors. I soon discover that Gabriel Austin was a close friend of Donald and Mary Hyde, and the editor of Four Oaks Farm and Four Oaks Library, Somerville, 1967, two books about the home and library of Donald and Mary Hyde. The Hydes were Samuel Johnson collectors. I am a Samuel Johnson collector. I soon become a Mary Hyde collector as well.

Sep 2003 – Jan. 2007:
I finally become a member of the Florida Bibliophile Society (FBS). Each March the FBS mans a table at the entrance to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, and has a sign-up sheet for new members. Each year since 1990, I sign up to become a member of the FBS, forget about the April meeting, and then decide not to "crash" the FBS's banquet in May because I don't know any of the members. When the FBS meets again each year at 1 PM on the third Sunday in September, I am in my recliner watching football on TV. An avid football fan I am. Baseball too! But books finally win out in 2003. In the next few years, I create a website for the FBS, and then become President of the FBS.

Jul 2004:

The online edition of AB Bookman's Weekly publishes, "The Story of a Bookplate," a piece I wrote about Edward Martin's bookplate. His bookplate tells the story of his service to the great state of Pennsylvania as a General in the National Guard, as a Governor, and as a Senator.

Sep 19, 2004:

At the September meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society, Lee Harrer, a founding member, hands me a copy of the September 2004 issue of The Caxtonian; Lee is a member of the Caxton Club as well. Because I have similar collecting interests with its author, Paul T. Ruxin, Lee knows I will be interested in reading the feature article, "Other People's Books: Association Copies and Another Pleasure of Collecting." The article is about a book in Paul Ruxin's library that was formerly owned by Samuel Johnson.

Sep 20, 2004:

I contact Paul Ruxin, congratulate him on his article, and tell him that I collect association copies as well, but on a mailman's salary (Paul is a partner in a prestigious Chicago law firm). I tell him that I am going to acquire a copy of his book, Friday Lunch, Cleveland, 2002, containing his talks before the Rowfant Club. I explain that I am going to give talks before the Florida Bibliophile Society and plan on reading his book beforehand. Paul Ruxin responds the next day. We have been corresponding ever since.

Dec 2004:

The online edition of AB Bookman's Weekly publishes "The Sentimental Airman," a piece I wrote about collecting association copies pertaining to the military. My Sentimental Airman Collection includes books formerly owned by a pilot who was a Tuskegee Airman, Charles Lindburgh, General Billy MItchell, and one of the 52 hostages in Iran, the Air Force Attache at the Embassy in Tehran.

Paul T. Ruxin comes to Florida to be guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society (I invited him). He visits my library before the meeting then delivers his talk about Samuel Johnson, "Soft-Hearted Sam."

Oct 16, 2005:

I read my paper, "William Targ, Bibliophile," before the Florida Bibliophile Society. Targ is one of the bibliophiles in my library. He was a book collector, bookseller, editor, and publisher from Chicago. Afterwards, I post the paper on my Bibliophiles in My Library blog.

Feb 19, 2006:

I present my talk, "Mary Hyde and the Unending Pursuit," before the Florida Bibliophile Society. Mary Hyde is one of the bibliophiles in my library. I post this talk on my Bibliophiles in My Library blog as well.

Mar – Sep 2006:

I have heart problems and can no longer deliver the mail. To make ends meet until my disability is approved, I sell some of my collections, but manage to keep other collections intact.

Oct 28, Nov 1, 2007:Researching a G.B. Hill A.L.S. I post the results of my research of a George Birkbeck Hill letter to ExLibris- and to the Johnsonian Group at Yahoo. I receive assistance from Anne McDermott, the Johnsonian scholar and from Catherine Dille, the G.B. Hill scholar.

Jan 26, 2008:

(I am back in Florida now) Instead of creating new websites to display my book collections, I catalogue my books on Library Thing. I no sooner finish when Dave Larkin invites me to help him catalogue Samuel Johnson's library. Dave contacts me because I have the largest Samuel Johnson collection on Library Thing. It takes us four months to catalogue the 1785 sale catalogue of Samuel Johnson's library.

Feb 11, 2008:

Lee Harrer informs me that the Caxton Club is requesting submissions for a book on association copies, tentatively titled, Discovery By Association: Insights From Collectors About Their Books. I submit several essay proposals to the Caxton Club.

Mar 2008:

One of my essays, "Hither – unpublished Obiter Dicta," is eventually selected as one of the essays to be published in the upcoming Caxton Club book. My essay is about Augustine Birrell's annotated copy of Lectures on the French Revolution by Lord Acton. Birrell, the author of a number of essays, most notably Obiter Dicta, First and Second Series, was the Irish Secretary in Ireland during the Easter Rising in Ireland. I submit my first draft to my editor Susan Rossen in Mar 2008. There would be several revisions in the months to come.

Jun 02, 2008:

Dave Larkin and I begin cataloguing the library of Charles Lamb on Library Thing. We refer to A Descriptive Catalogue of The Library of Charles Lamb published by the Dibdin Club in 1897, lists of books identified by W. Carew Hazlitt and E.V. Lucas, and specific books mentioned in letters written by Lamb to his friends. I have both the Bibliophile Society and Marrs editions of Lamb's letters. Additionally, I query the librarians on the ExLibris-L mailing list, asking if they have any books from the library of Charles Lamb in their book stacks. The response is huge! I receive inputs from the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University, the John Hay Library at Brown University, the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, the Lilly Library at Indiana State University, the Dunedin Public Libraries in New Zealand, and Cambridge University Library in England. It would take us three months to catalogue Lamb's library.

Oct. 02, 2008:

Dave Larkin and I begin cataloguing the books listed in the 1825 Catalogue of James Boswell on Library Thing. We are joined by Anna Ritchie in Scotland.

Oct 19, 2008:

I query Gabriel Austin, about cataloguing the Library of Donald and Mary Hyde in the new year – such high hopes I had. Gabriel provides me with contact sources and lists of books.

Jan 2009:

I query John Overholt, Assistant Curator of the Hyde Collection and Early Modern Books and Manuscripts at Houghton Library, Harvard, requesting that Harvard export their MARC records of the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson to Library Thing.

Mar 2009:

John Overholt notifies me that Harvard approved my request to export the MARC records of the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson. But it would take months for John to coordinate the project through the various Harvard offices of responsibility.

I become a member of the Bibliographical Society based at Oxford. Membership provides online access to the archives of The Library, the journal of the Bibliographical Society.

Jul 30, 2009:

Dear Anne Fadiman,

I am a student of the essay, and just ordered a copy of your book, At Large And At Small: Familiar Essays. Several reviews of your
book mention your love of Charles Lamb, an author I'm most familiar
with; I recently helped catalogue Charles Lamb's library on Library Thing,
and thought you might enjoy browsing the catalogue of his library.

best,

Jerry Morris,

book collector

Jul 31, 2009:

Anne Fadiman responds, thanking me for my efforts and for forwarding the link to Lamb's library.

Sep 2009:

The Johnsonian News Letter publishes my notice that the libraries of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell can be viewed online at Librarything.com. The Johnson Library is complete and we are still cataloguing the Boswell Library.

W. P. Humphrey was not the printer of the 1918 edition of The Elements of Style.

Sep 28, 2009:

I post a thread to ExLibris-L informing its members that the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson was now available for viewing on Library Thing. I congratulate John Overholt for coordinating the export of the MARC Records of the collection, saving us months of cataloguing time.

Sep 28, 2009

Maureen E. Mulvihill, a scholar and writer in NYC, contacts me, thanking me for my earlier ExLibris-L post. Maureen informs me that her auction report on the Peyraud Collection (Bloomsbury Auctions-New York, May 09), a collection which contained a number of items about Samuel Johnson and his circle, would be published in the Fall, 2009 issue of Eighteenth-Century Studies. Maureen and I would share many emails and useful information in the next 18 months. And in a joint email several months later, I would introduce a new friend, Maureen E. Mulvihill, to an old friend, Sandy Malcolm.

Oct 06, 2009:

I post to Exlibris and to My Sentimental Library blog about "An Unexpected Find in Umatilla, Florida." It was Sidney Ives's annotated copy of W. Jackson Bate's biography of Samuel Johnson – with a letter from Mary Hyde enclosed. Philip Bishop, proprietor of Mosher Books, and the author of several books about Thomas Bird Mosher, compliments me on my article and on my three blogs: My Sentimental Library, Biblio Researching, and Bibliophiles in My Library. Philip Bishop is also one of the authors whose essay will appear in the upcoming Caxton Club book about association copies.

Nov 24, 2009:

We announce on Library Thing that the cataloguing of James Boswell's library is complete. It had taken Dave Larkin, Anna Ritchie and I over 13 months and 2,957 entries to complete the cataloguing of the 1825 auction catalogue.

Nov 29, 2009:

Dave Larkin starts cataloguing the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Japanese Books. Dave, who used to work in Japan, enters the books in both English and Japanese Script, while referring to the copy of the 1988 Christie's auction catalogue that I gave him (I had two copies).

Nov 2009 – Oct 2010:

In the next year, I would complete the cataloguing of the following Hyde collections on Library Thing: Drama, Henry Fielding, Fine Binding, Forgeries, Architecture, and Sporting Books,

Dec 03, 2009:

I query Andrea Lloyd, Books Reference Specialist for the British Library, requesting that the British Library export the MARC Records of the Oscar Wilde Collection to LIbrary Thing. Mary Viscountess Eccles (Mary Hyde) bequeathed this collection to the BL. I mention that the Houghton Library at Harvard exported the MARC Records of the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Samuel Johnson to Library Thing, saving us months of cataloguing time.

Dec 17, 2009:

Andrea Lloyd informs me that the BL approved my request. I post to the ExLibris-L mailing list, thanking Andrea Lloyd for coordinating the upload to Library Thing of the MARC Records of the Oscar Wilde Collection.

Dec 2009 – Jun 2010:

I catalogue the Undergraduate Library of Samuel Johnson on Library Thing. When Samuel Johnson was forced to leave Pembroke College in December, 1729 because of lack of funds, he left his books behind. While corresponding with the G. B. Hill scholar, Catherine Dille, she informed me that Johnson wrote a catalogue of these books on the back of a 1735 letter to Gilbert Repington, who was caring for his books. I research further. In the footnote to this letter in the Hyde Edition of The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Princeton, 1992, Bruce Redford noted that A. L. Reade described these books in detail in Vol V of Johnsonian Gleanings, New York, 1968 (originally published in 1928). I refer to Reade's book while cataloguing Johnson's Undergraduate Library.

Feb 04, 2010:

James Caudle, Associate Editor of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, contacts me after reading my notice in the Sep 2009 issue of the Johnsonian News Letter about the Boswell Library being online at library Thing.James introduces himself, and we begin corresponding. When he learns I am looking for a copy of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale to further catalogue the Boswell Library, he sends me a copy.

Mar 02, 2010:

James Caudle prepares to correspond with Terry Seymour, an independent researcher, and with me, a volunteer online cataloger. We are working on separate but similar projects concerning James Boswell. Terry is compiling a provenance record of the Boswell Family Library. I am cataloguing the Boswell Library online at Library Thing, James Caudle says to himself, "You should connect these guys –– or at least provide the means for them to contact each other –– so they can exchange research findings where relevant." So he sends a joint email introducing us to each other.

Mar 02, 2010:

Terry Seymour and I respond to James Caudle's joint email. We would exchange over 100 emails in the next year. We are both contributors to the upcoming Caxton Club book on association copies. I mention that I am taking a break from cataloguing to spruce up my library for some visitors. Mark Samuels Lasner and Donald Farren would be visiting my library the day after the opening of the Tampa exhibition of Mark's "Facing the Late Victorians Exhibition." My wife and I would be attending the exhibition as Mark's guests. Terry replies that he's on the Princeton Library Council with Mark and Don, was unaware of Mark's Exhibition in Tampa, was in Port Charlotte, Fl. for the summer, and would drive up for the Exhibition. I invite Terry to visit my library as well, but he already has plans for Saturday.

Mar 05, 2010:

My wife and I attend the Lasner Exhibition in Tampa. Terry drives up from Port Charlotte. We meet before the exhibition begins. I finally get to meet Mark Samuels Lasner. We had been corresponding for about ten years. Donald Farren does a double-take when he sees Terry Seymour here in Tampa. I buy a copy of Facing the Late Victorians. The cashier asks if I'd like the author to sign it. I reply, "Mark will sign it when he visits my library tomorrow."

Mar 06, 2010: Mark Samuels Lasner and Donald Farren visit my library, browse my books, and we have a bibliofest. They notice a book that Paul Ruxin gave me when he visited my library in 2005. I mention that Paul came down to speak before the Florida Bibliophile Society. Both Mark and Don say they want Paul to speak before the Baltimore Bibliophiles. I forward the invitation to Paul, introducing him to Mark and Don in a joint email.

Mar 08, 2010:

I present a talk on Mary Hyde before the Crescent Oaks Book Club, a ladies group in the local area:

Mar 08, 2010:

In a joint email to Terry Seymour and me, Paul Ruxin introduces us to each other. Terry informs Paul that we actually met each other at the Lasner Exhibition in Tampa just three days prior.

Apr 17, 2010:

In a joint email to Terry Seymour, James Caudle, and me, Paul Ruxin introduces the Caxton Club book editor, Kim Coventry. She will be writing the Preface for the upcoming Caxton Club book whose revised title is Other People's Books: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell. Kim wants our assistance in identifying the Caxton Club member who was the owner of James Boswell's copy of Johnson's Lives of the Poets, London, 1790, lot number 1482 of the 1825 auction catalogue of Boswell's library. This was one of the works mentioned in the first Caxton Club exhibition catalog of association books in 1896. Samuel Johnson was the only author from the 1896 book mentioned in the forthcoming Caxton Club book. I'm on vacation in a beach-front cabin at Bellows Air Station, a recreation area for the military in Hawaii, but that does not prevent me from researching the matter.

Apr 18, 2010:

Everyone is still sleeping here in our cabin in Hawaii –except for me – I'm
listening to the waves and researching Johnson and Boswell on the web.
Here's a few things I found to help you in our research while I continue my

vacation:

The Bookman reviewed the catalogue. The owner only had three of the four
volumes. Growoll, in American Book Clubs, shows two editions of the
catalogue. The word "Exlibris" is omitted in the second edition.

Everyone is waking up now so I'm going back to vacation mode.

Aloha,

Jerry, on the beach in Hawaii

Apr 20 – 22, 2010:

I was to send two additional emails concerning Dewitt MIller from my beach-front cabin at Bellows Air Force Station, Hawaii.
Note: The image above, taken on the beach at Bellows , serves as my desktop background. Is it vacation time again yet?

May 02, 2010:

(I am back in Florida now) Dave Larkin, Anna Ritchie, and I begin cataloguing the books listed in the 1893 Auchinleck Sale of the Boswell Library. Anna is now in the Netherlands.

May 03, 2010:

Kim Coventry provides the Boswell Group (Terry, James, and I) with a list of the subscribers to the 1896 Caxton Club exhibition catalogue on association copies.

May 05, 2010:

I research the Caxton Club members. Jahu Dewitt Miller, a flamboyant book collector, appears to be the most likely owner of Boswell's copy of The Lives; he even had two copies of the Caxton Club catalogue.

May 10, 2010:

I query the Exlibris-L mailing list with the following Subject line: Is Boswell's Copy of __The Lives__ Sitting in Your Stacks?

I receive a few leads, but nothing pans out. The Caxtonian, John P. Chalmers, suggests we contact Nicholas B. Sheetz, Manuscripts Librarian at Georgetown University Library, who collected Dewitt Miller's books. Ironically, Nicholas is also a contributor to the forthcoming Caxton Club book on association copies. And his essay is about Dewitt Miller! Norman Kane, Proprietor of The Americanist, recalls that Miller stored his books in the library of an all-girls school on property that was eventually taken over by the government, and used to house personnel from Walter Reed Hospital. Norman gives me the name and city of Col. Paul Jung, a retired army colonel from Walter Reed, who was interested in the Miller Library.

May 11, 2010:

I track down Retired Col. Paul Jung in Bechtelsville, Pa. by phone. We have an extended conversation which brings back pleasant memories for him, but no evidence that Boswell's copy of The Lives was ever at the National Park Seminary, the name of the school in Forest Glen, Maryland.

May 13, 2010:

I query Don Farren asking him to bring up my Dewitt Miller query at the meeting of the Baltimore Bibliophiles on the 19th. Don posts a joint email to all the members of the Baltimore Bibliophiles. We receive several substantial leads but nothing that identifies Dewitt Miller as the owner.

May 14, 2010:

I contact Kim Coventry conceding that I could not prove that Miller was the owner of Boswell's copy of The Lives. We were, however, able to track the trail of provenance from "Jesse" (possibly Edward Jesse) who bought it at the auction in 1825, to the Johnsonian, J.W. Croker, to Gen. Horatio Rogers, and then to the still unidentified Caxton Club owner of 1896.

Jun 07, 2010:

I drive up to New York for a family memorial service in the beginning of June. On the following Monday, Terry Seymour drives from Pennsylvania, picks me up in West Harrison, New York, and we meet Dave Larkin in the lobby of the Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University. We then meet James Caudle, who gives us a tour of the "Boswell Factory," and introduces us to Gordon Turnbull, editor of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell. Joining us for lunch is the eminent bookseller Robert J. Barry. A fine biblio day was had by all.

Jun 08, 2010:

I drive to Pennsylvania to visit Terry Seymour's library. The entire basement is devoted to the books of the Everyman's Library series – over five thousand books from every edition J. M. Dent published and more:

Jun 2010:

I acquire a KB pass from the Library of the Netherlands. The pass gives me access to online scholarly journals (JSTOR, Project Muse) and numerous online databases.

Jul 08, 2010:

Paul Tankard, the scholar from New Zealand, queries me with a question about James Boswell's library. He is preparing an edition of Boswell's journalistic writings and wants to know how many books were in Boswell's Library. Good question. No good definite answer. No one knows which books belonged to James Boswell, and which ones belonged to his sons or to his father.

Jul 24, 2010:

I am guest blogger on Lew Jaffe's blog, "Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie." I provide a "collector profile" and display my Henry Blackwell bookplates. Blackwell was a bookbinder in New York City. He wrote a chapter on the study and arrangement of bookplates for W.G. Bowdoin's book, The Rise of the Book-Plate, New York, 1901.

Oct 24, 2010:

I review the final layout of my essay, "Hither-Unpublished Obiter Dicta," and submit it to Kim Coventry, the editor of Other People's Books: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell. It had taken months of coordination with my editor, Susan Rossen to get the essay in perfect shape. The book would be released in March 2011.

Oct 26, 2010:
I create the RCB Refugee Camp, a private group on Library Thing where former RCBers and their friends can communicate, brag, or commiserate. Some of the former RCBers who joined are MIke Berro, Scot Kamins, John Pelan, Bud Webster, Denise Enck, John Yamamoto-Wilson, William Klimon, Alice Voith, John Kunzig, James Keeline, and Gary Pfeifer.

Feb 02, 2011:

On My Sentimental Library Blog, I post "Changing Bookplates: Multiple Bookplates of Famous People," displaying bookplates from my own collection and from the collection of Lew Jaffe, the bookplate maven. Linde Brocato, the scholar in Early Spanish Literature, provides information on a Picasso bookplate belonging to Nelson Rockefeller in Jaffe's collection.

Mar 06, 2011:

I post a list of Maureen E. Mulvihill's online work on My Sentimental Library blog. The links to some of her hosted essays had been changed by the publishers. My blog post provides a comprehensive list of links to her hosted essays.

Mar 11, 2011:

I take a break from cataloguing the 1893 Auchinleck Sale on Library Thing, and make preparations to drive up for the Caxton Club book signing and dinner in Chicago. We expect to complete the cataloguing of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale by June 2011.

March 18, 2011:

I go to Chicago to attend the book signing of Other People's Books: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell. I walk from my hotel to Paul Ruxin's residence. I finally get to visit Paul Ruxin's library. In one word, his library is fabulous! I meet two of his friends and fellow authors of the Caxton Club book: Sam Ellenport the Boston bookbinder, and Steven Enniss, the Eric Weinmann librarian at the Folger. Together we walk to the Newberry Library, enjoy cocktails before dinner, and sign other people's copies of Other People'sBooks: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell. We have other authors sign our copies. I proudly wear a name tag that says "Jerry Morris, Author." Terry Seymour and I sit at the dinner table with Paul Ruxin, Sam Ellenport and their wives. A night to remember! A night to write about!

Jun 12, 2011:
In emails to ExLibris-L and C-18-L lists, I announce the completion of the cataloguing of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. It had previously taken volunteer Boswell Cataloguers Dave Larkin, Anna Ritchie, and me 13 months to catalogue the 1825 Auction Catalogue. It took the team another 13 months to catalogue the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. The Boswell Cataloguing team is currently at work cataloguing the 1810 Catalogue of Greek and Latin Classics in the Auchinleck Library, and the 1916 Sotheby's Catalogue of the James Boswell Talbot Sale.

Jul 08, 2011:
I receive an email from Lew Jaffe, the bookplate maven, asking me to call him. Lew has a Henry Blackwell lead for me. Lew knew I was interested in Blackwell from what I posted in My Collector Profile on his blog. Lew tells me that he talked to Henry Blackwell's great-grandson, who just happens to live in Florida, and has some of his great-grandfather's books and letters. I talk to the great-grandson several days later, and arrange to meet him the next time I'm on the east coast of Florida, probably in August). I intend to view Henry Blackwell's books and letters, take lots of pictures, and write an article for Fine Books & Collections.

Jul 08, 2011:
I finally get around to asking Lew Jaffe about the JMA bookplate which was pasted in one of the books I purchased at Larry McMurtry's Booked Up in Texas. Lew identifies the owner of the bookplate. Who was it? I will tell you in my next post on My Sentimental Library blog.

Jul 11, 2011:
I offer Maureen E. Mulvihill a music book another friend acquired at a library sale. Maureen's husband is a musician. Neither Maureen or her husband are interested in the books, but she forwards my email to a bookseller she knows. Presto! One book sold! Now if I could only sell some of the books I no longer want in my own library!

Jul 14-18, 2011:
I am cataloguing the books listed in the 1810 Catalogue of Greek & Latin Classics in the Auchinleck Library. I have problems with the books by Statius. Problems and solutions which I first express to my Boswell Advisory Group (James Caudle, Terry Seymour, and Paul Ruxin) and then in a blog post on my Biblio Researching blog: A Statius Check.

Jul 18, 2011:
I introduce Per Ralåmb to Maureen E. Mulvihill. Per is one of the authors of the Caxton Club's book about association copies,Other People's Books. His essay was titled. "An Unexpected Isaac Newton Provenance." He's the proprietor of Rosenlund Rare Books in New Jersey. I had previously introduced Per to Sandy Malcolm and Sandy to Maureen, but somehow never connected the three until now.

Jul 20, 2011:
I book airline tickets to New York to attend a wedding in September. I contact Mark Samuels Lasner and make arrangements to meet him in NYC one day in September. I have never had a biblio day in NYC, and I grew up in New York!

Jul 21-28 2011:
My friend Asta queries me about the 1636 Elzevir edition Virgilii Maronis Opera she has listed on eBay. Someone claims her edition is a counterfeit because part of the text on two certain pages is in black instead of red. I forward her email to Per, Maureen, and Sandy, and we have a lively and extended discussion. It turns out that early bibliographers did consider the copy Asta had to be a forgery, until Willems showed that it was a reissue which contained corrections to the text.

Jul 22, 2011:
Benjamin Clark, a friend at Library Thing, will be visiting Florida in August, and hopefully we'll get together. Benj is an avid bibliophile who moved from Oklahoma to Sidney, Montana to take the job of Executive Director of a museum. Love his blog name: Exile Bibliophile!

Jul 28, 2011:
I complete the cataloguing of the 279 works listed in the 1810 Catalogue of Greek & Latin Classics in the Auchinleck Library. I have more than a few corrections which need to be verified by those more knowledgeable of the classics than me. I submit my blog post, Corrections to the 1810 Catalogue of Greek & Latin Classics in the Auchinleck Library, to ExLibris, and to my Boswell Advisory Group. I would send the blog to Maureen, Per and Sandy the next day.

Aug 2, 2011:
I hadn't received any emails or email responses from fellow books-about-books collector, Jan Clark in months. I found out why today. She is still recovering from emergency surgery performed on April 1st. Prayers and wishes for a speedier recovery go to her.

Aug 6, 2011:
A word of caution: If you moderate the comments to your blogs before posting them, don't rely on Blogger to notify you. I recently discovered a comment a bookseller had posted almost a year ago concerning my Elements of Style Collection.I belatedly answer the bookseller and then decide to check my other blogs for comments awaiting moderation. Lo and behold! I find a comment that Warwick Harte, a musician from England, placed in February 2011! He was responding to a post about Jean Austin Dobson in my blog, The Displaced Book Collector, a blog I posted to in 2007! I will have more about Warwick and Jean Austin Dobson in my Aug 24 post on "Grand Moments."

Aug 9, 2011:
This month seems to be a good month for reading and reviewing books. I review The New Boswell, a book I bought at Alley Cat Books in Texas in June. I think I'd need a séance to send this author a copy of my review.

Aug 24, 2011:
I post "Loves Me, Loves Me Not" to my Idlewild Blue Yonder blog. This story is based on a real-life episode from my childhood. My original intent for this blog was to post memories from my childhood days while growing up near Idlewild Airport [Idlewild], from my years of service in the Air Force [Blue], and from my days working in the Post Office and beyond [Yonder]. But some memories are best left for friends and family, and not to be broadcast on the internet. There will be exceptions, and these will be posted on this blog, though few and far between.

Sep 01, 2011:

Terry Seymour returns from his trip to the UK. He informs me of his progress in researching books belonging to James Boswell. Terry spent a day at Quaritch in London. They were most helpful, providing access to a commission ledger which identified some of the buyers of the books Quaritch purchased at the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. Terry spent another day at the Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, viewing the Rothschild collection of 17 Boswell books. Terry then went to Scotland and toured Auchinleck and visited the Signet Library and the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. Lastly, Terry visited the Johnson House in London, viewing one book belonging to Johnson and one belonging to Boswell. You'll be able to read more about Terry's trip when he completes his research and publishes his book on the books formerly owned by James Boswell.

Sep 03, 2011:
Do you remember the book I bought in Larry McMurtry's book store in Texas in June that had the inscription, "Stolen from Frank M. Morris?" The story continues! I finally touch bases with Frank M. Morris's great-grandson, and we strike a deal. In the mail today, I receive a copy of the following book:

On the title page, the author writes a presentation inscription to me:

Sep 06, 2011:
I receive an email from Anna Ritchie in the Netherlands, one of my James Boswell cataloguing partners on Library Thing. She is reading the September issue of the Johnsonian News Letter on her way to work and writes, "I am indeed enjoying it; on the train this morning, as it happens, looking like a right swot. ;)"

Anna had paid for the renewal of my KB pass at the National Library of the Netherlands last July, which gives me online access to all kinds of databases and e-journals. In return, I bought her a two-year subscription to The Johnsonian News Letter.

Sep 12, 2011:
I am on the train from White Plains, New York to Grand Central Station, It is a little after 9:00 am. I flew up to White Plains to attend a wedding the previous weekend. But today I will partake of the book collecting pleasures for the first time ever in New York City! Although I grew up on Long Island, I didn't start collecting books until my last overseas tour with the U.S. Air Force in the late 1980s. I have only one scheduled event today: I will meet Mark Samuels Lasner at the Grolier Club at 3:30 pm! But until then, I will browse the books at the Strand Book Store on Broadway. Please grab a soda or a cup of coffee and join me; this day's post will be quite long.

They say there are 18 miles of books at the Strand. My feet say the distance is longer. I leisurely browsed the bargain books outside the store, the books in the basement, and the books on the first and second floors. But I methodically inspected the Books About Books in the Rare Book Room on the third floor. The Strand houses its Books About Books in a cubby hole behind a long wall. There are a chair and a ladder in the cubby hole, and I had to close them in order to turn them around. That's how narrow the space between the shelves was. I had the whole section to myself the entire time I was there before and after lunch. All told, there was probably less than a mile of books about books, but a pleasurable mile it was! I saw many friends on the shelves and even met some new ones. And the prices weren't bad! I asked a Strand employee to reserve two books for me, and to price two others, and then went to lunch.

The Strand employee recommended a place to eat but those hot dog stands looked good! I ended buying a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut and a soda on Broadway for .... drum roll please... three bucks! I joined a bunch of New Yorkers sitting on the pavement in Union Square Park and enjoyed my hot dog in the beautiful 80 degree sunny weather.

Back to the Strand! One of the books set aside was a copy of The Library of Jean Grolier: A Preliminary Catalogue by Gabriel Austin New York, 1971. I had been wanting a copy of that book for some time. All in all, I ended up buying seven books at the Strand. A Rare Book Room employee carried my purchases and accompanied me down the elevator to the register on the first floor –– there are no stairs to the third floor, and no register there either. I bought one other item as a memento of my visit to the Strand:

I allowed myself more than enough time to get to the Grolier Club –– too much time, in fact. I arrived near the lower numbers on East 60th St. around 2:30 pm –– the Grolier Club would be just a little further up the way at 47 East 60th Street –– so I stopped in a place on 60th St. for my afternoon cup of coffee or two, not to mention dessert. I'm glad I had a cheap lunch! The dessert alone cost me seven dollars. I won't mention what it was in case my cardiologist is reading this blog.

On my way to the Grolier Club again! I'm walking and walking and walking, but don't see any signs for the Grolier Club. The next address I see is 117 or something. I think maybe I wrote down the wrong address. I ask several New Yorkers where the Grolier Club is, but no one knows. I backtrack and walk and walk and walk, ending up where I had coffee and dessert. I ask the maitre d' if he knew where the Grolier Club was, and he says, "yes, it's right next door!" I was expecting to see a sign hanging outward with the words The Grolier Club in big bold letters. Instead, the name and number are on a plate beside the door:

I wish I had brought my camera with me because my words alone cannot describe the grandeur of the Grolier Club, especially to a books about books collector like me. And to have Mark Samuels Lasner as my tour guide! Mark was quite familiar with what was on the shelves in the Grolier Club Library, including Mary Hyde's books, and what was stored in the nooks and crannies, particularly the fragments of letters and manuscripts belonging to Sir Thomas Phillips. One of the books I bought at the Strand was the Franklin reprint of A Bibliography of Austin Dobson by Francis Edwin Murray. Mark had the original 1900 London edition, and remarked that the book was rectangular in shape to account for Murray providing the information on the title pages verbatim. He showed me the Grolier Club copy and discovered another volume he didn't know about next to it: the author's copy, with numerous notes and corrections written in pencil. I'm sure Mark will return to the Grolier Club and spend hours poring over the author's notes. If I lived closer, I would be there too! Mark had an engagement at the Grolier at 5:00 pm, and guests were coming in, so I thanked him for the tour and went on my way back to White Plains.

I should mention that I was wary of going to NYC the day after the anniversary of 9/11, but the police were visible everywhere, especially in the subway stations. To many, it was just another day in New York City, but for me, it was a special one.

Sep 18, 2011:
I attend the September meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society. I enjoy the talk and slideshow of "Largo and Beyond" by the guest speaker, Jim Schnur, the author of the Images of America edition of Largo. I donate two bumper stickers to Larry McMurtry's Booked Up in Texas for the Society to auction off in the coming months. I finally get to meet Maureen E. Mulvihill, one of the Society's newest members, and guest speaker at next month's meeting.

Sep 26, 2011:
For my monthly post on My Sentimental Library blog, I choose to display My Autograph Letter Collection. One autograph letter I do not display is from the writer and book collector Agnes Repplier, simply because I have yet to acquire any books she wrote. I find some of her essays on Google Books, and yes, she is a keeper.

Sep 27, 2011:
I order my first Agnes Repplier book, Books and Men. And I accomplish another first; I order it via IOBA, the Independent Online Booksellers Association, from Doug Clausen of Clausen Books in Colorado. My friend Alice Voith finally got me to try the IOBA. I looked at the list of members and recognize a number of names from Abebooks.

Sep 28, 2011:
Today started great and ended on an even greater plateau. To begin with, my mailman had two packages for me! The first was for My Sentimental Library Collection, and the second was from the Bibliographical Society in London –– probably the book the society selected as part of the annual subscription –– but it sure was heavy.
Telling you about the first book includes how I acquired it: When I look for association copies online, I search phrases such as: "From the library of. From the private library of. From his library. From her library. Bookplate of." and more than a few more. I stumbled onto a new one: "with his blindstamp:"

Pictured above is the blindstamp of the bibliographer Jacob Blanck, author of the monumental work, Bibliography of American Literature, which was embossed on his copy of The Library of the Late Jonas H. French of Boston, Boston, 1904. The ebay seller may have done better if he had listed the book as "From the library of Jacob Blanck."

The book –– or should say "books –– from the Bibliographical Society were well worth the $65 in membership dues:

Now what could top that? And on an even greater plateau? You would have to be a baseball fan to understand, and a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays at that. Down 7 to 0 in the eighth inning against the Yankees. Score 6 runs in the eighth inning. Tie the score on a home run in the ninth inning. And win it with a home run in the twelfth inning! Go Rays!

Sep 30, 2011:
I just scored tickets for Game 3 of the playoffs between the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Rays. They have a lottery drawing to pick potential buyers of tickets. This is the view from where we'll be sitting:

Members of the Caxton Club who are readers of this blog receive a surprise. An abbreviated version of "Biblio-Connecting" is published in the October issue of the Caxtonian. I had originally submitted the piece for publication last June, writing it primarily for the reader of the Caxtonion." But when the editor of the Caxtonian rejected it, I expanded the diary to include my early days of book collecting, and published it online in July as this new blog. The Caxtonian editor changed his mind and the abbreviated version of "Biblio-Connecting" in now in print!

Oct 03, 2011:

If I had to provide a title for this day's post, it would would be "Why Did I Wait So Long?" In the mail today, I receive my very first book order via the IOBA (see my Sep 27, 2011 post). Never heard of the IOBA? IOBA stands for the Independent Online Booksellers Association. It's been around since 1999, but publicity is not one of its strong suits. Booksellers will find it less expensive to list books on IOBA than on AbeBooks. As for the book buyer, there is unexplored territory here! There are over 300 booksellers who list their books on IOBA, many of whom only list on IOBA. Here's the link to the IOBA website.

Oct 05, 2011:

Jeremy Dibbell, the leader of the Legacy Libraries at Library Thing, forwards an email about Mary Hyde from Jim McCue, Institute of English Studies, University of London, to John Overholt, Acting Curator of the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Samuel Johnson/Early Modern Books and Manuscripts,Houghton Library,Harvard University, and to me (I spearheaded the cataloging of Mary Hyde's library on Library Thing). Jim McCue is working with Christopher Ricks, Boston University on the editing of the poems of T.S.Eliot for a major research project. In 1934, T.S. Eliot's Sweeney Agonistes, directed by Hallie Flanagan, was performed at Vassar, and Eliot answered questions from the student body the following day. Mary Hyde had written a short masque called Penthouse, which was included as part of the play. Jim McCue is hoping that Mary Hyde recorded these events in a diary or notes. He mentioned to Jeremy Dibbell that he had heard from William Zachs, author and friend of Mary Hyde, about –– and I quote–– "the astonishing work on Mary Hyde's Library," and was seeking assistance. John Overholt provides Mr. McCue with a mountain of information, including a finding aid to Mary Hyde's papers. I provide Mr. McCue with a PDF file of information concerning Eliot that I extracted from Hallie Flanagan's book, Dynamo: An Adventure in the College Theatre, New York, 1943.

Oct 08, 2011:

William Zachs invites me to Edinburgh to celebrate James Boswell's birthday!

Oct 10, 2011:

There is a discussion on the C-18-L list, an 18th Century Interdisciplinary Discussion Group, on when the long s went out of use. I respond and include an old usenet post summarizing an article by Paul Nash on the topic.

Oct 12, 2011:

On Library Thing, Dave Larkin has been cataloguing the 1916 Sotheby Sale which contains books owned by James Boswell Talbot, the great-great-grandson of James Boswell. I begin cataloguing the 1917 Dowell Sale which contains the remnants of the Auchinleck Library. We are both looking forward to finally completing the cataloguing of the Boswell libraries. The catalogue of the 1917 Dowell Sale leaves something to be desired. One of the first listings reads, ""Poetæ Minores, Greek et Latin, cf., Paris 1579." I determine, after extensive research, that no such title was published in Paris in 1579. However, a work by that title was published in Paris in 1627. Since Theocritus is one of the authors, I search COPAC for a work by him that was published in Paris in 1579. The result is a work that is in the Hyde Collection at Harvard, except that the place of publication is listed as [Geneva]. The brackets denote that the place of publication is not identified on the title page. Believing this is the same book listed in the 1917 Dowell Sale, I query John Overholt at Harvard. Sure enough, John replies that the spine title of the Hyde copy of the book is “Poetae Minores Gr: Lat:."

Oct 14, 2011:

At a church flea market sale, laying in a box under a table full of books I found a book for my Samuel Johnson Collection:

Actually, Maureen has two tables of selected rarities on display and discusses them all, providing purchase prices and current values:

Oct 16, 2011:
For $12.50, I win an ebay auction for a pristine copy of The Man of Feeling, by Henry Mackenzie, Paris, 1807:

This work was first published in London in 1771. But I am more interested in the former owner of the book: Moncure Biddle (1882-1956), the book collector from Philadelphia. You'll hear more about Mr. Biddle in the months to come.

Oct 21, 2011:
Terry Seymour queries me about information provided in the Library Thing listing of a Grolier binding that was sold in the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. Terry is attempting to identify the current locations of books formerly owned by Boswell's immediate family. In the listing (lot 482), which Dave Larkin first compiled in May 2011, Dave wrote that this Grolier binding was formerly owned by Robert Hoe. At first, Terry couldn't find the listing in the Hoe Catalogue –– I couldn't find it either –– but then he did. I research further and find that in 1951 Mrs. Wilton Lloyd-Smith had given the book to Princeton University in memory of her husband. The Princeton listing mentioned the Grolier binding and the Robert Hoe connection, but did not mention that the book contained the signatures of Thomas Ruddiman,1730, and Alexander Boswell (Lord Auchinleck), 1758. According to Terry, the book has been displayed at numerous exhibitions in the last 50 years, yet no one noticed the provenance, probably because they were blinded by the magnificence of the Grolier binding:

Oct 21, 20
I post "In and About Foley" to My Sentimental Library blog, a piece on one of our early American bibliographers.
Oct 27, 2011:
On the Johnsonian Mailing List at Yahoo this morning, I notice that someone posted a link to this blog: Samuel Johnson's Essays ~ Republished 260 Years Later. The San Diego website designer, Matt Kirkland is the creator of this blog. Kudos to him!
Nov 03, 2011:
My friend Per Rålamb, proprietor of Rosenlund Rare Books and Manuscripts, recently acquires one of Douglas McMurtrie's books and asks if I know of a bibliography of his works. I find a copy listed on abebooks.
Nov 04, 2011:
Kevin Mac Donnell, the renowned bookseller from Austin, Texas queries the Ex-Libris L Mailing List about when the New York office of Cassell & Co. moved from Broadway. I have a book about the Cassell firm in my library in Florida; however, I am near Fort Hood, Texas visiting my son Todd before he deploys to Afghanistan. By a stroke of luck, I am able to open up a Google snippit of the book, which provides the information Mr. Mac Donnell needs.

Nov 07, 2011:
I am back in Florida. I went to Texas, but there was no trip to Archer City this time. My wife and I helped our daughter and her family move from Florida to Monahans, Texas. Her husband has been working in the oil business and is making good money. We left Florida on the 28th of October, stopped at my son's house near Fort Hood, Texas, and arrived in Monahans on the 29th. We stayed there a few days, then visited my son near Foot Hood for a few days and then drove home. We put 3000 miles on our 2012 Kia Sedona Van. I also brought back a cold or virus one of my grandchildren shared with me. :-(

Nov 12, 2011:
James Keeline posts a link on Library Thing to a N.Y, Times article: The Subconscious Shelf. An excellent article by Leah Price and a teaser for her upcoming book: Unpacking My Library: Writers and Their Books. I shall order a copy.
Nov 15, 2011:
Bill Klimon informs of a little bit of indirect Johnsoniana. From Oak Knoll Books, he recently acquired Mary Hyde's copy of Kai Kin Yung's National Portrait Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 1856-1979 for his Catholic Convert Collection. Yung inscribed the book:
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"To Mary, A small token of my esteem and gratitude for all her Johnsonian advice, encouragement, and support, from Kai Kin, 11 November 1983."

Yung was the registrar of the National Portrait Gallery in the U.K. and was the curator of a Johnsonian bicentennial exhibition in 1984.

This book that Bill Klimon bought is listed in the Oak Knoll Catalogue 256. I am cataloguing the Mary Hyde books listed in that catalogue in the Donald and Mary Hyde Collection on Library Thing. I will get back to cataloguing the Hyde Collection some time next year, once we finish Boswell
Nov 27, 2011:
I am still cataloguing Boswell's library, currently the 1917 Dowell Sale. I come across the copy of Cicero that is currently in Paul Ruxin's library. Paul Ruxin, Terry Seymour, James Caudle, Dave Larkin and I have a discussion lasting several days on whether the 1916 Sotheby Sale and the 1917 Dowell Sale will be the last lists we catalogue. I commit to cataloguing Jing-fen Su's 1770 list of Boswell's library before calling it quits sometime next year. We have been cataloguing Boswell's library for three years now.

Nov 27, 2011:
I post my review of The Shakespeare Thefts by Eric Rasmussen. A disappointing book that irritated me more than a bit.

Lee Harrer, one of the founding members of the Florida Bibliophile Society, notifies me that Oak Knoll has an incomplete set of Reade's Johnsonian Gleanings on sale at 40% off. I already have three of the volumes including Vol 5, which I used to catalogue Samuel Johnson's Undergraduate Library on Library Thing last year.

In the mail today I receive a gift from Per Rålamb, proprietor of Rosenlund Rare Books & Manuscripts: a copy of Shaksperiana by John Wilson, London, 1827, an early bibliography of pamphlets written about Shakespeare. This book is in need of rebinding, but it will be a fitting addition to my Shakespeare Collection after I repair it. Thanks Per!

This is a good month for books! In the mail today I receive a copy of Mainly on the Air by Max Beerbohm –– that should make Mark Samuel Lasner happy! When he visited my library last year he inscribed my copy of Facing the Late Victorians, "For Jerry. with the hope that my Victorians will find a home among his bibliophiles." –– I had another reason for wanting this Beerbohm book. It was formerly owned by one of my favorite biblio researchers, Richard Daniel Altick.

Dec 08, 2011:

On the ExLibris-L Mailing List, John P. Chalmers, from the Caxton Club, posts a link to "Bookhunting as a Sport," a talk by James Westfall Thompson given before the Caxton Club in 1909.

Dec 08, 2011:

An eBay bookseller queries our Samuel Johnson Library page at Library Thing. He has a copy of Paradise Lost that has the inscription, "S. Johnson No. 95," and wants to verify that it is the Dictionary Johnson. I respond that our Samuel Johnson didn't write his name in that manner and, to the best of my knowledge, didn't number his books.

Dec 12, 2011:

Terry Seymour writes that at a recent Bonhams auction, he acquired a second edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson in –– I'm jealous –– original boards!! Pasted into Vol 1 was the bookplate of the Johnsonian scholar, R.W. Chapman. And to top it off, tipped into Vol 1 was an endpaper from another book on which was inscribed "James Boswell, London, 1778." Congrats Terry!

I finally finish rebinding my set of G.B Hill's edition of Boswell's LOJ. This is only the third of fifteen bookbinding projects I planned to complete in 2011. I will lower my goal to one bookbinding project per month for next year. :-)

I finally complete the cataloging of another portion of the Boswell Library on Library Thing, the Auchinleck Library books that were sold at the 1917 Dowell Sale. Next up is Jing-fen Su's update of the 1770 list of books in the Boswell Library.

Today is Friday, and that means toodling with the Harrisses. Eve Harris spots a unique addition for my library in the local Jericho Ministries Thrift Store: four bookish storage boxes which now store my bookbinding tools and supplies:

On the C-18-L mailing list, Lisa Berglund announces the publication the annual Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America. The journal contains two articles about Boswell's Scottish Dictionary. Lisa writes,"In the first, “Boswell’s Scottish Dictionary Rediscovered,” Susan Rennie explains how she found the manuscript and offers an overview of its history and contents. “James Boswell…and his Design for a Dictionary of the Scottish Language,” by James J. Caudle, examines Boswell’s lexicographical goals and practice." Congrats to Susan and Jim!

Note: I will join The Dictionary Society of North America, but not until February –– I have to pay my Bibliographical Society dues in January!

I receive a comment from Chris Larizza of Stratford, Ct to My Sentimental Library blog concerning Halliwell-Phillips, the topic of my last post. Chris has a presentation copy of the 1882 second edition ofOutlines of the Life of Shakespeare and queries me as to its value. I post the results of my research to my Biblio Researching blog.
Dec 19, 2011:
In the mail today I receive my copy of A Printing History of Everyman's Library 1906-1982 by Terry Seymour. You can buy a copy at Amazon for $78 OR you can buy it via Author House at the current price of $49. We shall meet for dinner with our wives sometime after the New Year, and I shall have Terry inscribe the book for me.

Dec 20, 2011:
In the mail today I receive a copy of Republic of Words : The Atlantic Monthly and its Writers, 1857-1925. The book is from the publisher, University Press of New England, via the Early Reviewer's Program at Library Thing. This book bypassed my reading pile and landed right in my lap! I am enjoying it. Look forward for my review after the New Year.

Dec 21, 2011:
On the ExLibris-L mailing list, Robert Simola posts a query about an interpretation of some of Chaucer's verses which were published in the People's Magazine. Here is his query. Here is my reply.

Dec 23, 2011:

Today is Friday, and that means toodling with the Harrises. A name on the spine of a book grabs my attention: Hallie Flanagan:

I already have her book Dynamo: An Adventure in the College Theatre, New York, 1943. Hallie was the leader of the experimental theatre at Vassar. Mary Hyde, then Mary Carpo, wrote and starred in some of the plays. Another book for my Mary Hyde Collection!

Afterwards, we exchange Christmas gifts with the Harrisses. Tom's wife, Eve, gets trinket boxes from my wife. Tom gets a shelf full of biographies about movie stars from me, and chocolate and tea from my wife. My wife gets books about Hawaii and B&G plates. And I get books for three of my collections. from Tom & Eve. For my New York Collection, I get Fifth Avenue Old and New, 1824-1924.

And I get three more books for my Bathrooms and Outhouses Collection.
Dec 24, 2011:
Terry Seymour is editing his upcoming book on the Boswell Library, and queries me about a note I added to the four books listed in lot number 65 of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. I had added the following information to each listing: "According to an article in the Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, the volume contains Ruddiman's bookplate and the autograph of Alexander Boswell." I remember seeing the information in a snippit view on Google Books, but try as I might, I cannot relocate the reference again. :-( Update: 12/08/2016: I found it!
Dec 25, 2011:
My wife and I spend an enjoyable Christmas Day at my son Craig's house with his wife Tina and her father and brother

We really need to be with family on this day because our daughter and three of our grandchildren moved to Texas in October. We share gifts after dinner. Tina & Craig give me a Kindle! Mind you, I will always prefer book in hand, but the Kindle will come in handy on trips.

Dec 28, 2011:
In the mail today, I receive a two-volume set of A Latter Pepys from Lew Jaffe the Bookplate maven. Thanks Lew! The set was formerly owned by the American author Alfred Henry Lewis, and contained his bookplate by Remington, which Lew removed for his bookplate collection before selling the set to me. I briefly research Alfred Henry Lewis, and will have to acquire some of his books in the coming years.

Dec 31, 2011:

I now say farewell to 2011. I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and bookish New Year!
Jan 03, 2012:
Per Rålamb, proprietor of Rosenlund Rare Books, and a collector of 16th century editions of Greek and Roman classics tells me about a shelf sale listing from an east coast auction house that he recently read. The lot was described as "3 vol. Greek Thesaurus 1572." Per thought it could be the Estienne edition, which he already had; but this set would have been incomplete because the Estienne edition was published in four volumes. Out of curiosity, Per queried the auction house. The person Per talked to didn't read Greek so Per asked him if there was a man standing under a tree on the title page. Sure enough there was, meaning that the set they sold was an Estienne edition. Per than asked them to check with the owner to see if vols 3 and 4 were bound together. They were, meaning that someone bought a set worth up to $4000 for $70. Per also learned that some of the boards were detached but the buyer was still extremely happy with his purchase. He should be!

Jan 05, 2012:
I am still cataloging Boswell's 1770 Catalogue on Library Thing and come across this listing [link defective; reported to NLS 04/25/2015] on the web from the National Library of Scotland. I ask Terry Seymour if he got a chance to view the document when he visited Scotland. Yes he did! He discovered that the pages the Yale scholars (Lincoln & Su) were working with were not in the correct order as the manuscript copy

Jan 06, 2012:
Today is Friday and that means a toodling we shall go! At The Kirk thrift store I find two Floridiana books:

Click on the images to enlarge them. And click on the X in the top right hand corner to return to this page.

Jan 14, 2012:
I submit my review of Republic of Words: The Atlantic Monthly and Its Writers, 1857-1925. I send a copy to Susan Goodman the author who thanks me for my review.
Jan 14, 2012:
My London friend Sandy Malcolm collects, among other bookish things, auction catalogues, and reports that he recently acquired a copy of the 1916 Sotheby Auction Sale for £1. He discovered when he got home that it contains a portion of the Auchinleck Library belonging to James Boswell Talbot. He asks if we need any details from the catalogue. "No, but thanks for thinking of my interests," I reply. James Caudle previously provided us with copies of all the Boswell catalogues. We are currently cataloging the 1916 Sotheby Sale. I forward Sandy's email to Terry Seymour, who mentions that he'd like to have copies of the Boswell catalogs for his own collection. Sandy says he will keep his eyes open.

Jan 16, 2012:
I finally order an e-book for my Kindle, a book by Greg Iles, an author both my wife and I like. I give my wife first dibs with reading the book on "our" Kindle and she is loving it. Beautiful! Because I still prefer to read with "book in hand."
Jan 16, 2012:
For a change-of-pace, and nothing to do with books, I post an episode from my childhood to my often-neglected blog, Idlewild Blue Yonder.

Jan 17, 2012:
Tuesday is Weight Watcher meeting day for my wife Linda and Tom's wife Eve, so Tom and I usually toodle in the local thrift stores. Tom found this book for my wife's Hawaiiana Collection:

Jan 17, 2012

Tom and Eve volunteer at their local library bookstore, and Eve recently came across a book for my New York Collection, which she gives to me today. Mind you, the only words Eve focused on in the title were the words, "New York."

With friends like this who need aliens < ? ? > < ? ? >

Jan 18, 2012:
Speaking of friends, beware of Linkedin! According to Linkedin, one of my friends invites me to join Linkedin this morning. I query my friend and he says he doesn't belong to Linkedin. I wonder about the legality of sending me a phony invitation supposedly from my friend and that has my friend's email address on it as "proof" he is the one inviting me. If not illegal, it is definitely unethical.

Jan 20, 2012:
Toodle day again! Friday already? The special today at the Little Red Schoolhouse Bookstore is $5 for one plastic bag of fiction books. Tom and I fill a bag. I get two Ed McBain 87th Precinct novels that don't look familiar, a western (!) by Robert Parker, another Greg Iles novel, a few other novels, and one more book for my wife's Hawaiiana Collection,

Jan 21, 2012:
Mark Samuels Lasner posts to the Ex-Libris mailing list inviting people to a "Celebrating Dickens" symposium at the Morris Library, University of Delaware on Feb 18, 2012. If you go, tell Mark I said hello.

Jan 23, 2012:
I receive an email from Ruth Meyers, a Library Thing member, who is cleaning up the LT list of education books published by the Grolier Society. One of our Boswell books mistakenly lists Grolier as the author of a book published in 1502. Grolier was the binder of the book, not the author. I revise the listing, providing the reason for the error.
Jan 25, 2012:
On My Sentimental Library blog last August, I posted Grand Moments, which was all about grandchildren, mine and those belonging to bibliophiles in my library. Today I receive an email from Emily McAdams whose third great-grandfather, Thomas B. Walker, is the author of a book in my wife's Hawaiiana Collection. Emily remarked that she would have enjoyed hearing the conversations between Walker and his father-in-law, her fourth great-grandfather John Adams Kaukini Cummins. Here's a Hawaiian genealogical table linking both Walker and Cummins.

Jan 25, 2012:
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I receive a box of Agnes Repplier books from Gabriel Austin (Gabriel is a reader, not a collector). I will send half of the books to Gabriel's friend Daniel Krotz, a writer and bookseller in Arkansas. Dan has both a radio podcast and a blog. On the latter, he calls himself "The Ubiquitous Pig."
Jan 27, 2012:
Toodle day again! Today we go to Tarpon Springs and visit Boe Rushing and his Back in the Day Books on Tarpon Ave. Our wives are at the antique store next door, Cindy Comstock's Court of Two Sisters. Cindy has some books too, including a booth of books belonging to the bookman from St. Pete, T. Allen Smith. Here are just some of the books I buy today:
A book about Niagara Falls (for my New York Collection).
A book about President McKinley
A book about chorus girls
A play, Panic, for my Archibald MacLeish Collection
And a book for my Books About Books and Bookbinding Collections:

Jan 29, 2012:
Bill Klimon reads My Sentimental Library blog and notes that he recently donated an Agnes Repplier document to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, which has the bulk of her personal papers. If you find another one Bill, let me know!

Jan 31, 2012:
Here's a late blog post from my son who is currently serving in Afghanistan. The title of his blog post is "My Last Military Vacation."

Feb 02, 2012:
Dave Larkin, my cataloging partner on Library Thing announces that he has completed the cataloguing of the Boswell books listed in the 1916 Sotheby Sale! All that remains to be catalogued regarding the Boswell libraries is the 1770 Catalogue of Books Belonging to James Boswell and then we will be pau with Boswell. "Pau" means "finished" in Hawaiian.
Feb 03, 2012:
In a local thrift store I pick up a copy of Bookmarks: A Guide to Research and Writing. I intend to continue my research of the pre-1959 editions of Strunk's Elements of Style. I was disappointed in Mark Garvey's 2009 book celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of E.B. White's version of Strunk's book. I intend to write a book celebrating the one-hundredth anniversary of Strunk's book in 2018.

Feb 03, 2012:
My biblio-friend from Missouri, Mark Barnett, sends me a link to an 1820 set of the Works of Samuel Johnson that Better World Book
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An impressive set indeed, and it sold for $263! But I'm happy with my set of the 1823 edition. After browsing the other stuff Better World Books has listed on eBay, I include them on my eBay Saved Seller list. Thanks Mark!

Feb 04, 2012:
Per Rålamb, proprietor of Rosenlund Rare Books, informs me that the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies has published an article by him in the latest issue of the FABS periodical. I haven't received my copy yet but I will watch for it.
Feb 05, 2012:
I buy a copy of the romance novel my son Craig's mother-in-law, BonSue Brandvik, recently published: Pearls (Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore)

My wife enjoyed reading the book and is looking forward to reading BonSue's next one in the series. Her book is available on Amazon. Now I'm not into reading romances myself, but I particularly enjoyed reading the inscription BonSue wrote on the title page:

Feb 06, 2012:

Terry Seymour queries me regarding the listing of a lot in the 1893 Auchinleck Sale of the Boswell library. Terry is painstakenly reviewing his research regarding the books formerly owned by James Boswell and his immediate family. And he plans to publish the results of his research! I must say I am looking forward to acquiring a copy. Terry not only identifies the books belonging to the Boswells; he goes the extra mile, and traces the provenance of the books, acquiring the bookseller catalogues of the booksellers who bought the books at the auction, as well as the auction catalogues of the buyers the booksellers sold the books to.
Feb 12, 2012:

16th and 17th Century books bound in vellum advertised for interior decorating purposes??? Per Rålamb's wife found this site while browsing the web.

Feb 17, 2012:
Today is toodle day with the Harrises! But prior to hitting the thrift stores, Eve Harris gives me a book for my Poetry Collection:

I shall catalogue this book under sick humor.

Feb 17, 2012:
Let's try it again. Today is toodle day with the Harrises. . . ! I find only two books today: he Historic Places of Pasco Countyand a book about celebrity homes presented by Architectural Digest. I get the first book because I live in Pasco County. I get the second book because it displays the homes of Truman Capote, Coco Chanel, Julia Child, Senator Edward Kennedy, Robert Redford, Dinah Shore, Barbara Walters and more, albeit from 1977. Libraries are displayed in some of the photos, the most impressive of which is Coco Chanel's library.

Feb 23, 2012:
I receive an informative email from my London friend Sandy Malcolm. He tells me he'll be meeting Terry Seymour for lunch in London next Saturday the 3rd, along with Howard Mather of Wykeham Books. Sandy also says he attended the Bibliographical Society meeting in London on the 21st, and David Pearson mentioned Library Thing cataloguing early libraries several times in his Presidential Address. Kudos to all LT cataloguers!
Feb 24, 2012:

I query Terry Seymour about his London trip. He's giving a talk before the Boswell Society in Lichfield on the 2nd. Congrats Terry!

Feb 24, 2012:
I kill two birds with one stone. I couldn't put Bergman's first Jack LeVine mystery down and finish it this morning. An hour later I download Hollywood and LeVine unto my Kindle! My very first read of a Kindle edition. So far I'm enjoying the read. But I feel guilty in a way because deep down I'm still a book-in-hand man.

Terry Seymour challenges me to use my research skills in identifying the buyer of Lot 695 of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale: Wolford or Walford. The book sold in the lot is a descriptive catalogue on gems and cameos. It takes me two hours to identify Edward Walford (1823-1897) as the buyer. Walford edited a number of books including Antiquarian Magazine and Bibliographer and was personally acquainted with Lord Talbot de Malahide.

No posting tomorrow the 29th! My wife is having a tooth extracted this coming Friday – Ouch! – so tomorrow will be toodling day instead. Until next month . . . .

Mar 01, 2012:
I pride myself on my research ability. What I'm not so proud of is my inability to consistently document the sources of my research results while cataloguing James Boswell's library on Library Thing. Case in point: I can't remember, much less find, where I read that Elkin Mathews sold the proof sheets to Boswell's LOJ for £147. It would take me another two days to locate the source again. But this time I included a link to the source in the Library Thing listing.

Mar 07, 2012:
I almost ruin my biblio-connecting communication device today. I attempt to make my own book cover out of silk and lean the book I'm working on against the wall on my work table. I leave the room and attend to other matters while I let the covers dry. I return to my library ten minutes later and discover that the old "lean the book against the wall" trick didn't work. The book tipped over, knocking my water mug over and unto the keyboard of my laptop. I turn my computer off, remove the battery, unscrew the screws and open the sides, blow dry the insides of my computer, and then tent it for three days. Three days later, I put everything back together, turn it on, and –– thank God –– my computer still works!

Mar 09, 2012:
In the mail today, to help me in researching and cataloguing Boswell's library, I receive from James Caudle at Yale a zerox copy of the National Library of Scotland's manuscript copy of the C1770 Catalogue. The catalogue is written in James Boswell's hand!

Mar 10, 2012:
While waiting for an extra dose of my restless leg syndrome medication to kick in, I research Succus Juris Civilis of Boswell's C1770 Catalogue one more time.

Mar 11, 2012:
My friend Tom Harris and I attend the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg. I buy only one book. I find several books of interest but the inflated prices (bookseller's room and board) drive me away.

Mar 13, 2012:
Terry Seymour queries me concerning an incomplete reference in the Library Thing listing of Lot 745 of the 1893 Auchinleck Sale. I correct the listing providing a better reference from a GBV listing.

Mar 15, 2012:
James Caudle gives Terry Seymour and I a heads-up that Elisabeth Mallin, one of Yale's researchers in the Junior Research Fellowship Program, is reviewing Boswell's accounts of his European travels for mention of any books he purchased. Results to follow after she completes the review of Boswell's accounts of his travels in Italy and France.

Mar 19, 2012:
Not all my research efforts are successful. In fact some have been less than brilliant. Case in point: I spent a few days trying to find a work published in Milan, not realizing that Mediolani is the latin name for Milan. So today I research and enter in the LT C1770 Catalogue the modern name for all latin place names.

Mar 29, 2012:
Terry Seymour sends me a copy of his talk about Boswell's books before the Boswell Society in Lichfield, England.

Mar 29, 2012:
I upload my March post for My Sentimental Library Blog: On or About Moi's Books About Books. I receive a Facebook post a few hours later that Fine Books & Collections posted a link to my blog post on its Facebook Page!

Mar 30, 2012
Toodling day again! I haven't posted the bounties acquired during previous toodles this month, but I have to mention my biggest bounty today, only it requires an extended explanation first. Throughout our married life, I always seem to acquire items right around my wife Linda's birthday in March. And she acquires items right around my birthday in June. I thought the trend would change this year because she acquired a puppy for her birthday last week. But I'm in Boe Rushing's Back in the Day Books on Tarpon Ave today, and my wife is next door in Finders Keepers antique shop. She comes into Boe's bookstore and tells me she has my birthday present next store. I walk over and see the newest addition to my library: an oak barrister bookcase! It has three glass-covered shelves with leaded glass covering the top shelf! We will pick it up next week. Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy. . .
Apr 02, 2012:
Dave Larkin asks me if I know about the pile of Hyde books for sale on the Oak Knoll Books website. Dave knows I have more than a few Hyde books in My Sentimental Library Collection. I have enough for now, so feel free to add one to your own library, people!

Apr 03, 2012:
My wife and I meet Terry Seymour and his wife for a late lunch at Mattison's in Sarasota. Terry briefs me on his recent trip to England to speak before the Boswell Society, and gives me a copy of the __Johnson Society Transactions 2011__ for my Samuel Johnson Collection. Good food, good drinks, good company, and good biblio- talk! Before we depart, I get Terry to sign my copy of his latest book, __A Printing History of Everyman's Library 1906 – 1982__. You can pick up a copy at authorhouse.com for $49 or pay $78 at Amazon.com.

Apr 05, 2012:
I send Terry a 2001 Usenet post about an eBay seller I had mentioned during our biblio-talk during lunch in Sarasota.

Apr 06, 2012:
Today is Toodling day! It is also Good Friday so we anticipate that many of the thrift stores and all of the libraries will be closed. We visit one of our favorite thrift stores, Treasure for Peace in Shady Hills. I find a unique book for my cookbook collection and a novel for my wife's Hawaiiana Collection.

Apr 16, 2012:
Clyde Harper queries me from England concerning a copy he acquired of __Catechism__ a broadsheet William Targ published under his Black Archer Press imprint. Targ extracted it from Aleister Crowley's __Book of Lies__. Not my area of expertise so I was no help. Clyde was the Aleister Crowley bidder in a Dec 2003 ebay auction. I won that auction, but sent him a copy of the article he wanted afterwards. Here's an old post about the auction: The Battle of Those Who Collect Them.

April 17, 2012:
Paul Ruxin sends me a copy of "The Club,"the title of the talk he will be giving at the Rowfant Club on May 9, 2012. Rowfant Club members are in for a treat!!

Apr 20, 2012:
Toodling day again! We intend to go to Micanopy to visit O Brisky Books and the antique stores, but never get that far. The Harrises give me two books before we even start: a unique cookbook and a book I will classify as "sick humor."We spend the day visiting the antique stores on and around U.S. 301. I buy three books, a history of the paperback, and a book of short stories by Louis L'Amour and a Boy Scout book. My wife finds a beautiful sandman figurine for her B&G Collection.

Apr 23, 2012:
I win an eBay auction for a Thrift Press edition of William Strunk's __Elements of Style__. $0.99!

Apr 24, 2012:
Larry McMurtry announces a huge auction sale of his books at Booked Up to be held in Archer City on August 10th and 11th. The original announcement called for the auction of 350,000 books, but the listing was revised to read "hundreds of thousands of books by the shelf lot." I will be in Texas in August, but not until later in the month –– unless my daughter has her baby early. . . . Grandchild number sixteen, but who's counting? :-)

Apr 25, 2012:
I receive two books I ordered from Better World Books that I've wanted for some time: __Marginalia__ and __Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare__. $4.25 for the first book and $5.84 for the second, with free postage. The books are ex-lib, but I'm more interested in reading them!

Apr 27, 2012:
Toodling day again! Today we will go to Plant City. We had fun when we visited Plant City the last time, but not this time. A disappointing trip! We stop at our favorite tea house, but can't get in because they are too busy. Then we discover that our favorite antique store in Plant City has closed for good due to an illness in the family. And then to top it off, my wife does not want the poster I bought her for her Hawaiiana Collection:

Apr 28, 2012:
This is the last day of the local library sale. $1 for a bag of books! Too many books to identify here! But in the bag are two Lakeside Classics, one still in shrink wrap. These two books will go to my friend Tom Harris.

Apr 30, 2012:
I am done with this post before 3:00 pm! I haven't cataloged too many books from the C1770 Catalogue of Books Belonging to James Boswell on Library Thing this month, so I will catalogue more than a few before puppy training classes tonight. We need them! This is what happens when you leave a book unattended in a sewing press on the library room floor:

What do you know! A dog who devours books! Literally!

May 01, 2012:
My friend Jan Clark compliments me on my April post about my Shakespeare Collection on My Sentimental Library blog. She notes a misspelling in the bookseller advertisement of the set of Shakespeare books. Can you find it?

As Jan notes, the phrase should be "Books & Stationery." She sends me an interesting article on Stationary Versus Stationery from Michael Quinion's World Wide Words website: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sta3.htm

May 02, 2012:
The Americanist bookseller, Norman Kane, shares his knowledge of Shakespeare with me. And we compare notes on the binding of the First American Edition of Shakespeare's works.

May 04, 2012:
My wife Linda and I receive some miniature books from our friend Mary Brady that her late husband Don Brady bound and published.

May 06, 2012:
I query two of my Boswell Catalogue advisers, James Caudle and Terry Seymour, seeking assistance in identifying Storia del Pellegrino Predestinato, another book listed in James Boswell's C1770 Catalogue. I can find no listings in any library databases. James Caudle responds the next day with results! Terry Seymour congratulates him, and notes that some of the books James Boswell acquired during his tours on the Continent were so obscure they seldom made it into libraries in England.

May 07, 2012:
Some of my biblio friends will remember My Sentimental Airman Collection, the collection of Aviation association books I sold to my friend Jan Clark in 2006 while I was waiting for my Disability Retirement to be approved. Jan gave the collection to her husband Bill, an Aviation enthusiast. Well I have a new addition for his collection!

This book belongs in Bill's Sentimental Airman Collection.

May 08, 2012:
I'll let you in on a secret. I keep a separate file of email responses from some very important people in the book world and beyond, some of which pertain to issues more important than books. Here is my latest addition, with the contents covered:

May 11, 2012:
Tom Harris and I visit Irene Pavese's Booklover's Cafe on Central Ave. in St. Petersburg. Tom asks Irene if she has any books by "Miss Read," the pseudonym of the English novelist Dora Jessie Saint. Irene remembers having a copy in her back room and gets it for Tom. It is a title that Tom does not yet have in his Miss Read Collection. Irene, btw, is the President of the Florida Bibliophile Society. A nice bookshop she has!

May 16, 2012:
I catalogue Boswell's copy of James MacLaurin's Essays in Verseon Library Thing. Whether the Ruxin copy is the Boswell copy is still being debated.

May 22, 2012:
Gunnel Larsdotter contacts me. Her and her husband are downsizing their library, noticed on the web that I had a small collection of Danish books. I explain that my wife Linda is Danish and likes to have books about Denmark. Gunnell sends the book of Danish children's songs to Linda for her collection. Thanks Gunnel!

May 23, 2012:
Not book-related, but very close to the heart. Our son Todd posts a video of his return from Afghanistan and the reception from his two young girls. Feb 2018 update: This video has been relocated to a private family photo album.

May 27, 2012:
On this Memorial Day weekend, in a discussion about military honor on the 18C-L mailing list, Robert Lapides posts a link to a thought-provoking essay by the late Paul Fussell.

May 29, 2012:
I am preparing to list a book on eBay for a friend. But what I find in the book leads to yet another blog post: Biblio Researching 101!

Jun 2012:
A slow month book-wise.

Jun 04, 2012:
I list the book and Confederate Veterans' Reunion Ribbon mentioned in Biblio Researching 101 on eBay. The book doesn't sell, but the ribbon sells for $122!

Jun 05, 2012:
I contact the Acquisitions Assistant of a prestigious boarding school for young adults, and offer to sell my Austin Dobson Poetry Collection for their library. The library has a number of endowed library funds, one of which, the William Chambers Parke '19 Library fund is for book collecting. There are two books formerly owned by Parke in my Austin Dobson Poetry Collection. I have yet to receive a response. Is the library closed for the summer?

Jun 10, 2012:
I do a little more research in the marginalia in my copy of Eliot's 1809 Biographical Dictionary. There's a Mather connection that could lead to identifying one of the earlier former owners.

Jun 13, 2012:
Happy Birthday to me! Turned 65. Now I really am an old fart! Enjoyed a quiet day at home with my wife. Happy Birthday too to my daughter-in-law, Tina.

Jun 14, 2012:
In the mail today I receive an LT Early Reviewers copy of As you like it : a frankly annotated first folio edition. Down through the ages, it seems, editors have replaced some of the raunchy parts of Shakespeare's plays with parts our mothers would rather have us read. I've already begun to read it, but I'll have to have one of them "clean versions" next to this book to compare the changes.

Jun 15, 2012:
Today is Friday and today the Harrises help celebrate my birthday –– with books. Very thoughtful and down-to-earth people, the Harrises are. Two of the books they give me are here and here.

Jun 29, 2012:
My friend Asta sends me the summer report of the Samuel Johnson Society of the West, of which she is a member. And congrats go to Asta, the Proud Mom! Her daughter recently received her doctorate in Molecular Biology.

Jul 08, 2012:
To celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of Mary Hyde's natal day today, I post A Virtual Tour of My Mary Hyde Collection to the Exlibris-L mailing list. Over 350 people will view this blog post today.

Jul 09, 2012:
While cataloguing a book that is listed in the C1770 Catalogue of Books Belonging to James Boswell, I look for a review to include in the Library Thing listing. Imagine my delight when I find a review of the book by my good friend Paul Ruxin!

Jul 09, 2012:
Sally Bullard, the family genealogist for the Hyde family, compliments me on my Mary Hyde blog post, and reveals that the Crapo toad bookplate was originally used by Mary Hyde's uncle, Henry Howland Crapo.

Jul 10, 2012:
I receive an email from David Buchanan, author of The Treasure of Auchinleck: The Story of the Boswell papers, which solves an identity question in my blog pst, "A Virtual Tour of My Mary Hyde Collection. Mr. Buchanan reveals that he is the E.D.B. who gave the copy of G.B. Hill's Letters to Mary Hyde. Come to find out his full name is Eric David Buchanan.

Jul 12, 2012:
I complete the cataloguing of the C1770 Catalogue of Books Belonging to James Boswell. I started cataloguing this collection in January, and identified several works not previously identified. Kudos go to Jing fen-Su for identifying the bulk of the works in this collection in 2008.

Jul 14, 2012:
My wife and I attend a talk by Claire Conner, author of the July 2013 book, Wrapped in the Flag (Yes.The book won't be published until July 2013). Claire Conner grew up as a member of the John Birch Society. Her father was one if its leaders. Thought provoking it is!

Jul 15 2012:
I am thinking about cataloguing Boswell's Curious Productions, a three-volume collection of chapbooks James Boswell first started acquiring in 1763. James Caudle at Yale's "Boswell Factory" puts me in touch with Jacob Sider Jost, the Yale graduate who catalogued two volumes of Boswell's Curious Productions (one volume is missing), as well as a spreadsheet of the fifty-five volumes of chapbooks collected by James Boswell's son, Alexander Boswell. Mr. Jost gives me the go-ahead to utilize his catalogue of Curious Productions. I suggest he publish the fifty-five volume set on Scribd for others to view.

Jul 17, 2012:
I begin cataloguing Boswell's Curious Productions, utilizing William Coolidge Lane's 1905 Catalogue of English and American chapbooks and broadside ballads in Harvard College Library for Vol 1, and Jacob Sider Jost's Curious Productions: A Census of the Chapbooks in James Boswell’s 3-volume collection from the 1760s, Volumes 2 and 3.

Aug 03, 2012:
I start the month with a minor rant. It is almost three years since the Library of Congress corrected its bibliographic records regarding the printer of the 1918 and 1919 editions of William Strunk's little book, The Elements of Style; yet W.P. Humphrey is still listed as the printer in the bibliographic records on WorldCat, on Bartleby.com, and on various university library databases, including those at Harvard and Yale. I know the University of Iowa Libraries recently acquired a copy of the 1918 edition; I check, and sure enough, W.P. Humphrey is listed as the printer. I send them a copy of my Sept 2009 blog post, A Correction to the Copyright and Bibliographic Records of The Elements of Style. Kathryn Hodson, Special Collections Department Manager promptly responds and forwards my email to the library's cataloging department, which not only corrects its record, but corrects the bibliographic record at WorldCat as well! Kudos to them!

Aug 06, 2012:
Nancy Mayer, a frequent contributor to the C18-L Mailing List, queries the group concerning the Mary Lamb Lunacy Verdict. My response the next day can be viewed in the archives.

Aug 08, 2012:
We are going to Texas in a few days, so I post My Sentimental Library blog early this month. The topic, a continuation of my Philology Collection posts, is Grammars, Spellers, and Writing Guides. One friend calls the post "fascinating stuff."

Aug 10, 2012:
Mark Samuels Lasner queries the ExLibris-L Mailing List concerning the locations of copies of Lionel Johnson's first book, Sir Walter Raleigh in the Tower. I respond off-list to Mark with information, but he was already aware of it. Mark was to post the results of his query several days later:

The curious may like to know that so far five copies have been identified. Of these, two are in private collections, two are owned by libraries (BL and NYPL), and one, sold in the Bradley Martin Auction, has not yet been located.

Aug 10, 2012:
The Last Book Sale commences at Larry McMurtry's bookstore in Archer City, Texas. But selling the books by the shelf rules out collectors like me. No sweat; I visited Booked Up last year.

Aug 12, 2012:
My wife Linda and I and our dog Kaia hit the road on the way to Texas. We will first visit my son Todd who is an Air Force weatherman at Fort Hood, and then travel further west to Monahans, to visit our daughter Anita who is expecting her fourth child, Baby Emma.

Aug 16, 2012:
My friend Alice Voith, an IOBA bookseller, notifies me that the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) published her interview of me in the IOBA Standard. The IOBA is a viable alternative to abebooks for both the book collector and the bookseller.

Aug 21, 2012:
Terry Seymour forwards images of account books James Boswell kept during his Grand Tour. Terry acquired the images from James Caudle, Associate Editor of the Yale Editions of the Papers of James Boswell. I will research the account books and attempt to identify more books Boswell acquired during his Grand Tour.

Aug 23, 2012:
Linda Miller, Fintel Library archivist and senior lecturer at Roanoke College, agrees to purchase an 1892 pamphlet about the Demosthenean Literary Society of Roanoke College from me. Considering the topic of the book, I had given her first dibs on the book.

Aug 23, 2012:
Emma, my newest granddaughter, is born in Texas. Pictures here if you wish to view them.

Aug 28, 2012:
The women go shopping at Target in Odessa. I spend more than a few enjoyable hours at Ye Old Bookworm in Odessa, Texas. A nice bookstore –– no rare books –– but shelves upon shelves of general stock which appeals to the local populace, and at reasonable prices. Dorthy Bennett, owner of Ye Olde Bookworm, must be doing something right because the store has been in business over 20 years. I purchase three books:
The Spell of Hawaii, A Walk Between Heaven and Earth, and So You're Laid Up: A Cheer Book for Convalescents.

Aug 28, 2012:
A great day for books it is! In addition to the books I bought at Ye Old Bookworm, I buy more than sixty catalogues of books on language published by the noted English bookseller Karen Thomson. I already had several copies of her catalogues from the late 1980s so I know what I am buying! More on her catalogues in a future My Sentimental Library blog post.

Aug 29, 2012:
Bookseller Tom Congelton of Between the Covers Rare Books presents his views of the auction of Larry McMurtry's books in a blog post, 110 Degrees of Archer City.

Aug 30, 2012:
I complete the last catalogue entry for James Boswell's Curious Productions. Yes. After four long years, we can finally call the cataloging of the James Boswell Library on Library Thing complete, and in time for the 5th Anniversary of Library Thing's Legacy Libraries next Monday! I will do an extensive blog post on the Boswell Library in the next month or so.

Sep 03, 2012:
Congrats to Jeremy Dibbell for ramrodding the Legacy Libraries for five years! To date 157 libraries have been completed.

Sep 07, 2012:
We're back in Florida and helping the economy grow by making some book purchases at Knot on Main Street in Dunedin, Florida. Did I mention that today was Friday? A Toodling we go with the Harrises!

Sep 08 2012:
And here is my Library Thing cataloging partner, Dave Larkin and his wife Mary browsing the books at the Cambridge Libraries in England.

Sep 14, 2012:
Man this week went by fast. It is Friday already again! For one dollar at an indoor flea market on Ridge Road, I buy this book:

Here are two AbeBooks listings of the book, the first minus the dust jacket, and the second with the dust jacket present. My copy has the dust jacket. I start researching the publishing history of this book because the date of publication is incorrect on the first listing and on the listings of several university libraries. Expect a post about this book on my Biblio Researching blog post in early October.

Oct 5, 2012
Found two books while toodling with the Harrises: Everyday I Dye For You by Ann Kennedy, and Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. Read my comments in the Library Thing listings to learn why I had to buy these two books.

Oct 12, 2012
Received in the mail today: the quarterly issue of the Johnsonian News Letter. This issue contains "Sunday Morning at Four Oaks Farm," Terry Seymour's humorous story about when he met Mary Hyde. This issue also contains "The Club," Paul T. Ruxin's talk on the history of the literary club formed by Samuel Johnson in 1764. Paul delivered this talk before the Rowfant Club in Cleveland on May 9, 2012.

Oct 13, 2012:
The start of something new: lunch with the Bookies!
I shall explain. Every Friday, since forever, George Spiero has invited his book-minded friends to join him for breakfast on Friday mornings. Over a year ago, our wives started coming too; but they sit by themselves–– it was my wife Linda who dubbed us "the bookies." One of the bookies, Norm Tanguay, moved further south a few months ago, and his chair has been empty at the breakfast table. But six of us met him for lunch at Cheddars in St. Pete today. Great food! Great Biblio talk! And we shall meet for lunch every few months or so. And each time, I will make note of the exploits of one of the bookies in this blog. Today it is Ken Kister. He is the author of a handful of books, the most recent of which is this one:

Oct 14, 2012:
Ordered a biography by Ken Kister. Eric Moon: The Life and Library Times. Here's a short bio on him from Wikipedia: Eric Edward Moon (born 1923) is a librarian and editor who had a shaping influence on American librarianship in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s as editor-in-chief of Library Journal, as President of the American Library Association, and as chief editor at Scarecrow Press. Moon is a trailblazer and influential figure instrumental in transforming library professionalism, polity and social responsibility.

Nov 03, 2012:
I receive an interesting email from Pawel Podniesinski, a rare book specialist and PhD student of Library and Information Science at Warsaw University (Poland). He congratulates me on my research of Sister Marciana's book about the Post Offices of Michigan. He ran into similar cataloging problems when he published a book on Polish Book Auction Records in 2002.

Nov 10, 2012:
Terry Seymour queries me about a "Bible in Shorthand" that was sold at the 1893 Auchinleck Sale of James Boswell's library. I provided the info Terry needed. Terry is putting the finishing research touches on his upcoming book about the Boswell Library. I can't wait to acquire a copy.

Nov 12, 2012:
I start the research for this month's post to My Sentimental Library blog. The post will be titled "Mostly Letters About Bookplates." While researching on the web, I come across the bookplate of the brother of one of the correspondents in Lew Jaffe's blog post, Cowboys on Bookplates.

Nov 14, 2012:
I've had some pretty important people in the book world visit my library in the past; but all I can do is write about their visits, because I never take their pictures. Well, I don't think you'd believe who visited my library today, so I took a picture of him! And with a hidden camera! I just wish the lighting was forty-seven percent better....

I brought in something like twelve boxes of Christmas decorations from the garage. And my wife decorated my bookshelves, our furniture, and the rest of our house:

Merry Christmas to All!

And to All...

A Reindeer Cupcake 4U!

Jan 2013

This month has been more about life and death than about books. For me, January 2013 began in a hospital and ended in a hospital. In the beginning of the month I was in a hospital in Odessa, Texas. I was slowly recovering from a respiratory ailment which came "that close" to killing me the day after Christmas. And at the end of the month I was in a hospital in Tampa, Florida. I was getting my first look at our newest grandchild, Aubrey Elizabeth Morris, the daughter of Craig and Tina Morris, born at 2:22 a.m. this morning.

I'm changing the format of this blog beginning this month. Rather than posting dated entries, I'll only post items I think might be of interest to you; special books, and things I've seen on the web.

Last night, on My Sentimental Library blog, I posted an R. L. S. - related blog, Memories of Things Experienced and Things Missed. I sent it to the Ex-Libris mailing list, several Stevenson Societies, and to most of my bibliobuddies. In a twenty-four hour period, there were 236 page views of that blog. Even better, the viewers looked at some of my other blog posts for a daily total of 370 page views.

Speaking of page views, my Jan 10. 2013 post to my blog, Contemplations of MoiBibliomaniac, provides a summary of all seven of my blogs, including which posts received the most page views, and which ones were my favorites. And to make it easier for my blog readers, I acquired the website http://moibibliomaniac.com. The website will "point" to my blog Contemplations of MoiBibliomaniac.

Coming next month on Contemplations... are my thoughts on how almost dying affects my book collecting. I don't want my wife to bear the burden of having to dispose of my book collections after I'm gone. Should I sell off my collections now? Which ones? Stay tuned.

Feb 2013

Online exhibitions, upcoming symposiums and other book-related events announced on the ExLibris-L and C-18L mailing lists, or found elsewhere on the web:

Two friends in the book world died this month, Gabriel Austin and Norman Kane. I mention both of them a time or two in the July 2011 Continuation post for this blog. I never met either one of them, but both men have guided me in my book-related endeavors through their emails. And both men enjoyed reading my blog posts.

My March post to My Sentimental Library blog, "From G's Hand," contains a selection of Gabriel Austin's emails gathered together as a tribute of sorts to Gabe.

And Nate Pederson provides more than a fitting tribute to Norman Kane in a post on The Fine Books Blog.

I will share one email from Norman Kane with you; his response to my Oct 2011 post, "In and About Foley,"

ONLINE EXHIBITIONS, UPCOMING SYMPOSIUMS, AND OTHER BOOK-RELATED EVENTS ANNOUNCED ON EXLIBRIS-L, C18-L, OR FOUND ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB:

Booklovers on Facebook may want to join the National Trust Libraries, and enjoy the "news, pictures and announcements on the more than 150 historic libraries in the care of the National Trust in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland." Here's a preview, a library guide to the Libraries at Calke Abbey:

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MY BLOGS AND WEBSITES:
I resurrected one of my old webtv websites. Most of the links no longer work, but you might enjoy looking at the images and reading the descriptions of my books. I replaced my webtv websites with Library Thing in December, 2007.

I have a short post this month for my Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac blog, "Library for Sale."

And I'm already working on two blog posts for next month:

My Sentimental Library blog post will be about one book: The Vanishing Breed: A History of Bookbinding Compiled by Don Brady, Hyattsville, Md., 1997. Don't bother researching the book. Don Brady privately printed it. And this may very well be the only copy. I can describe this book in one word: awesome!

"Don Brady, Printer and Bookbinder" is tentatively the title of an upcoming post to my Bibliophiles in My Library blog, a blog I haven't posted to in ages. Don Brady was the proprietor of the Clearview Press, and printed and bound miniature books. He was one of the bookies I met for breakfast in New Port Richey, Florida on Friday mornings. My wife called us "bookies" because we all had something to do with books.

Do you love old books? You have to visit Old Florida Book Shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I visited the book shop on Saturday, May 18th. Awesome! If you live in Florida, or plan to vacation here, you need to visit this the Old Florida Book Shop, which was formerly located in Charlottesville, Virginia,

I'm going up to O. Brisky Books in Micanopy, Florida this Friday the 31st, rain permitting. I havne't been up there in a while.

These London book fairs bring back memories. I attended them during my last year serving in the U. S. Air Force in 1989. Come to think of it, this year I have now been retired for longer than I served. Add 16 years in the Post Office and I do say I have spent a lifetime of service.

Claire Conner is the daughter of one of the founders of the John Birch Society. I have heard her speak twice, and can't wait to read her book. I will read it and review it after my wife gets done reading it.
My wife is the political one in our family. She is a board member of the Democratic Womens Club of Pasco County and a member of the National Organization of Women. I am proud of her efforts.

Three cheers for June Samaras, proprietor of Kalamos Books for posting book-related events and exhibits to the ExLibris-L online mailing list (one of my sources).

And three cheers for the Friends of the Citrus County Library System for their well-organized mega book sale in Inverness, Florida: 90,000 items. I was there Saturday and bought ten books. Hey Floridians! $3 a bag on Oct 1st!

In 2011 and 2012, Biblio-Connecting was all about me –– how I connected with other bibliophiles in the book world.

In 2013, Biblio-Connecting became all about how other bibliophiles can connect in the book world: I started posting announcements of upcoming exhibits, symposiums, and other book-related events. I also posted a segment titled "Found on the Web."

And in 2014, I will add a "Blogs of the Month" segment and a yet-unnamed "feature segment" of sorts, highlighting something of interest in the book world. It could be about a place, a thing, a person, or it could even be that short piece about your bookshop, or your library. Submit your inputs to moibibliomaniac "at" gmail "dot" com.

The exhibition, on the institutional and particular provenances of the different collections, includes nearly two hundred printed and manuscript books, from XV to XIXth centuries. Among the books there are several such notable books as a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Venice, 1499), and a illuminated Bible from the 15th century (12-18-13 email from Eduardo Peñalver Gómez to EXLIBRIS-L).

FABS Book Club Announcements

The Member Page of the FABS website lists contact information of the respective book clubs and links to their websites, if they have one.

Here's a little background on this next one. In 2007, my wife and I went to Hawaii to watch some of our grandchildren while their father served a tour in Iraq with the U. S. Air Force. I wrote a blog during that time, which I titled, "The Displaced Book Collector." And just last month Greg Young commented about one of Luther Brewer's books in one of my blog posts, A Shelf In My Bookcase. Greg has a story of his own in the making.

Congrats to Dr. Paul Tankard for completing his book, Facts and Inventions: Selections From the Journalism of James Boswell, published recently by Yale University Press. Yours truly is one of probably many who are thanked in the acknowledgements for their Boswellian contributions (in my case: small).

Congrats also to Rebecca Rego Barry, editor of Fine Books & Collections magazine. She'll be interviewing bibliophiles about their greatest rare book finds in barns, attics, basements, thrift stores, etc. for her book, tentatively titled Bronte in the Basement: Great Tales from the Hunt for Rare Books, to be published by Voyageur Press late next year. Rebecca stresses that her definition of "rare" is quite broad, and not to be judged by monetary value alone. Have a rare book "find" to share? Contact her.

William Loring Andrews's copy of Appendiculæ Historicæ, Or Shreds of History Hung on a Horn by Fred W. Lucas, London, 1891.
William Targ's copy of The Grolier Club 1884-1950 An Informal History by John T. Winterich, New York, 1950.

A Bookshop Enchantment by Paul Johnston, Montreal, Christmas 1932.

A Century of Book Selling: The Story of The Old Corner Book Store on the Occasion of its One Hundredth Birthday by Dorothea Lawrence Mann, Boston, 1928

NOTE There were over 500 page views in the first 24 hours of my post about the first five years of My Sentimental Library blog. At the end of the year, I will post the page views of all seven of my blogs. One post on my Idlewild Blue Yonder blog has 1081 page views: On Thanksgiving Day.

WELCOME TO BIBLIO-CONNECTING DECEMBER 2014

Click on the Hyperlinks Above the Images to Read the Articles

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF "CHRISTMAS" EXHIBITS, UPCOMING SYMPOSIUMS, AND OTHER BOOK-RELATED EVENTS

Two blog posts by the writer Dell Smith about his father, who sold one of the early editions of The Elements of Style to me in 2001. The first post is a perfect portrait of a bookseller, written by his son.

Works of Ben Jonson, Vol IX only, London 1875. contains "The English Grammar, Made by Ben Jonson for the Benefit of All Strangers, Out of the Observations of the English Language, Now Spoken and In Use."

The Savage Pilgrimage: A Narrative of D. H. Lawrence by Catherine Carswell, New York, 1932. A book from the Colorado Springs War Recreation Center, a POW Camp for Italian and German prisoners during WWII.

Frontier by Louis L'Amour, Photographs by David Muench, New York, 1984.

Godfrey Nurse's copy of Madame Therese by Emile Erckmann. Cambridge, 1904. Nurse was the first black Presidential elector designated by the Democratic Party.The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White. Illustrated by Maira Kalman. New York, 2005.

Vol. I No. 1 of The Denishawn Magazine: A Quarterly Review Devoted to the Art of the Dance. New Yoek, 1924.

NOTE 2 Coming Soon: "Whose Hands Were On This Book?" will be the title of My Sentimental Library blog post this month, and will be adapted from my presentation before the Florida Bibliophile Society on Mar 29, 2015.

WELCOME TO BIBLIO-CONNECTING MAY 2015

Click on the Hyperlinks Above the Images to Read the Articles

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF EXHIBITS, UPCOMING SYMPOSIUMS, AND OTHER BOOK-RELATED EVENTS

If you want to have your book-related event listed on biblio-connecting, please contact me (moibibliomaniac at gmail.com) by the 25th of the month prior to the event.

I've chosen Henry Bemis Books as my blog pick of the month because they have exceptionally good taste. On my birthday, June 13th, they chose the 1959 edition of The Elements of Style as their book of the day. I probably have one of the largest Elements of Style Collections in private hands, so yes, I already have this particular edition.

If the name, Henry Bemis rings a bell, Lindsay Thompson, named his bookstore after a character in a Twilight Zone episode. Time Enough To Last. The link to the episode is on their website as well.

RECENT ACQUISITIIONS

One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Lone in New York by Arthur Browne, Boston, 2015.

When I first started this blog in 2011, it was all about how I connected with other bibliophiles in the book world. In 2013, however, I changed the blog's theme to how other bibliophiles can connect in the book world. But I haven't stopped being a biblio-connector myself—and sometimes I'm even "a quoted source."

1. Recently, I noticed a significant uptick in the page views of my blog posts about my Elements of Style Collection. So I looked for the source. And I found it. Mark Dery wrote an article about Strunk and White's book, The Elements of Style. The article appeared in The Daily Beast on July 12, 2015. Among his sources, Dery quotes George Orwell, Gertrude Stein, E. B. White, and me—yes, me! I get an eleven-line footnote, which includes a hyperlink to one of my blog posts. Here's Dery's article: Strunk and White's Macho Grammar Club.

2. Strunk had something to do with another biblio-connection of mine. I recently contacted Steven van Leeuwen, the one-man operator of Bartleby.com, and asked him if he would correct his website's bibliographic record of Strunk's book, The Elements of Style. Six years ago, I had discovered that a broken typeface had given W. P. Humphrey credit for printing the 1918 and 1919 editions of Strunk's little bookwhen W. F. Humphrey was the actual printer. I sent Mr. van Leeuwen a link to my September 2009 blog post, A Correction to the Copyright and Bibliographic Records of the Elements of Style, and mentioned that the Library of Congress had already corrected its bibliographic record. I also mentioned that I would be writing a book on Strunk that would be published in 2018, the one hundredth anniversary of Strunk's book. Mr. van Leeuwen corrected his website's bibliographic record, expressed an interest in my upcoming book, and has been promised a copy of it once it is published.

3. In late July, Chris Wasshuber, proprietor of mylybrary.com, wanted to buy a book from my library that was formerly owned by Edward Gallaway. Mr. Wasshumber was researching whether Edward Gallaway was the mysterious ERDNASE in the world of Magic. Gallaway's book, which contains his bookplate, is currently the oldest book in my library and is not for sale at this time: a 1700 edition of The History of the Works of the Learned. Mr. Wasshuber posted a link on the Genii Forum to one of my blog posts about the book.

4. Lew Jaffe the bookplate maven contacted me early last month and we made trade: some of my bookplates for a copy of William K. Bixby's copy ofBook-Lovers, Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubsby Henry H. Harper, Boston, 1904. We've traded before. In fact, I acquired a book from Bixby's library in the last trade as well. Thanks Lew!

5. After reading My Sentimental Library blog post for September, a mineralogist wanted to talk to me about William Loring Andrews (the blog post was about a book formerly owned by Andrews). I wondered what a mineralogist had to do with Andrews. But I was so mesmerized by the beauty of the eye-agates displayed on his website that I missed the biblio-connection:

Had I looked closer, I would have noticed the two W. L. Andrews hyperlinks in the top right hand corner of Lawrence H. Conklin's web page. Besides being a mineralogist, Lawrence Conklin is a booklover, a Grolier Club member, and a William Loring Andrews Collector. He probably has the most extensive WLA Collection in private hands, over 150 items written or published by, about, or formerly owned by William Loring Andrews. And Mr. Conklin told me a few stories about his WLA Collection.

In one of his anecdotes, he recalled buying a copy of The Heavenly Jerusalem from the N.Y. bookseller Lathrop C. Harper in 1969 for $20. This book, which WLA published in 1908, is considered by many to be WLA's most beautiful work. But Conklin didn't keep this copy of the book. Instead, he sold it to the 34th Street bookseller James J. Kane. Mr. Kane would write the first four letters of the client's name on the flyleaf of the book. Some people may have mistaken this for a cost code, but for Kane, it was simply an inventory code. Years later, in 1992, Conklin bought a copy of The Heavenly Jerusalem from the bookseller Thomas G. Boss, for $550. And it was the very copy he had sold to Kane years earlier!

Lawrence Conklin now has seven copies of the book, including two of the five copies issued on "Special French Japan Paper."

Book-Lovers Bibliomaniacs and Book Clubs by Henry H. Harper, Boston: Riverside Press 1904.A Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press With a Record of the Prices at Which Copies Have Been Sold Including a New Supplementby A. T. Hazen Together With a Bibliography and Census of the Detached Pieces by A. t. Hazen and J. P. Kirby, New York: Barnes and Noble 1973 (1942).

Coming later this month:
John T. Winterich: The Man, His Books, And His Other Writings

WELCOME TO BIBLIO-CONNECTING DEC 2015

Writing about Don Brady and his miniature books has come full circle: from mention in this very blog, to its posting in another one of my blogs, to a series of articles in a periodical, to a chapter in a magnificent book, to mention in a book society's newsletter, and now back to this blog, where I have "biblio-connected" all the contributions to the various media outlets."

"Don Brady, Printer and Bookbinder" was the original title I had chosen for my blog post. But as the words flowed onto the screen the next month, a better title came to mind: "From Whence They Came: Don Brady And His Miniature Books."

James M. Brogan, editor of THE MICROBIBLIOPHILE, liked my blog post and persuaded me to write a three-part series of articles about Don Brady's books, "From Whence They Came, Mother Books and Their Miniatures."

"Little old me" was one of the people interviewed for Rebecca Rego Barry's first book, Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places. And I told Rebecca the story of my friend Don Brady's books, which Rebecca titled, "The Motherlode of Mini Books."

Rebecca inscribed my copy of her book at the book signing dinner I had arranged for her with the Florida Bibliophile Society at Chili's in New Port Richey on November 23rd.

I had invited a special guest to the book signing dinner: Don's wife Mary Brady.

And I bought a copy of Rebecca's book for Mary, which Rebecca inscribed.

And Charles Brown, President of the Florida Bibliophile Society, wrote all about it in the Florida Bibliophile Society's December Newsletter.

And at the end of the night, Mary gave Rebecca a copy of one of her husband's books, Why the Chimes Rang, a lovely story by itself, but made even more sentimental by the occasion...

A revisit to one of my 125+ posts to my seven blogs (My Sentimental Library, Biblio-Connecting, Biblio Researching, Bibliophiles in My Library, Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac, The Displaced Book Collector, and Idlewild Blue Yonder), the purpose of which is to update, correct, inform, gloat over, or wonder why a particular post wasn't as popular as many of my other blog posts.

In June 2013, when I wrote this blog post about cataloguing the Boswell Library on Library Thing, I mentioned that Terry Seymour's book, Boswell's Books, was "soon to be published." I was a wee bit off—by two years and so many months!

Boswell's Books: Four Generations of Collecting and Collectors, due out in the winter of 2016 is now "soon to be published." http://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/123417/terry-seymour/boswells-books-four-generations-of-collecting-and-collectors

A revisit to one of my 125+ posts to my seven blogs (My Sentimental Library, Biblio-Connecting, Biblio Researching, Bibliophiles in My Library, Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac, The Displaced Book Collector, and Idlewild Blue Yonder), the purpose of which is to update, correct, inform, gloat over, or wonder why a particular post wasn't as popular as many of my other blog posts.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Shakespearean, William Orchard Halliwell-Phillips (1820-1889), to the autograph collector, Charles Aldrich (1828-1909), dated 9 Oct 1888, less than three months before Halliwell-Phillipps passed away.

WELCOME TO BIBLIO-CONNECTING MARCH 2016

Click on the Hyperlinks Above the Images to Read the Articles

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF EXHIBITS, UPCOMING SYMPOSIUMS, AND OTHER BOOK-RELATED EVENTS

A revisit to one of my 125+ posts to my seven blogs (My Sentimental Library, Biblio-Connecting, Biblio Researching, Bibliophiles in My Library, Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac, The Displaced Book Collector, and Idlewild Blue Yonder), the purpose of which is to update, correct, inform, gloat over, or wonder why a particular post wasn't as popular as many of my other blog posts.

I frequently check the stats of my blogs to see which ones are currently popular. Every now and then an old blog post will show multiple recent pageviews. This has happened several times with my July 2011 Biblio Researching blog post, A Statius Check. It makes me wonder if someone is referring to it in a class or something.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: The Frontier Stories,
Vols Two and Three, New York: Bantam Bell, 2004 and 2005

How to Speak Pittsburghese by Sam McCool, Pittsburgh, 1981.

Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents by Jeff Herman, Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2013 (looking for a publisher or printer for my upcoming book on Strunk's Early Editions of the Elements of Style—to be published in 2018).

Speaking of "source books," the next two items are source books I recently acquired for my upcoming post to My Sentimental Library blog.

I choose Laurence Worms' blog as my Blog Pick of the Month because of his extraordinary research into "The Book-Hunters of 1888," his name for the print below. Mr. Worms tells us about the history of the print itself, and gives us a "cv" of each of the 29 book hunters identified in the print in a series of nine posts, the links to which are numbered below. This print is the desktop background on my own computer.

I had Sutton's Bibliography of Neo-Latin Texts bookmarked for last month's blog post; but I pulled it at the last minute because I thought I already had enough for one month's blog post. And then Karen Reeds, Princeton Research Forum, notified me the very next day, and recommended that I include Sutton's database in my blog since it was a boon for medical historians! Karen had written an article promoting the use Sutton's Neo-Latin Library which appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine.

A revisit to one of my 125+ posts to my seven blogs (My Sentimental Library, Biblio-Connecting, Biblio Researching, Bibliophiles in My Library, Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac, The Displaced Book Collector, and Idlewild Blue Yonder), the purpose of which is to update, correct, inform, gloat over, or wonder why a particular post wasn't as popular as many of my other blog posts.

The baseball season begins this Sunday, April 3, 2016, and I recall to mind an unorthodox review of Robert H. Cohen's book, The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History:A Most Heavenly Review?

RECENT ACQUISITIONS

The Seven: The Lives and Legacies of the Founding Fathers of the Irish Republic by Ruth Dudley Edwards, One World Publications, 2016 (A review copy from Library Thing).

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald, Boston: Houghton Mifflin c1978

Liquid Paper: New and Selected Poems by Peter Meinke Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991 (Inscribed by the author).

The Elf Poem, or Nine Not Very Golden Rules For Children Who Like to Write Poetry by Peter Meinke, Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2015 (inscribed by the author).

The Annual Florida Bibliophile Society Banquet for members and their guests will take place at Brio Tuscan Grille, 2223 N. West Shore Blvd. Tampa, Fl. on Sunday, May 15, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. Colette Bancroft, Book Editor of the Tampa Bay Times, will be the Guest Speaker. A silent auction of books will be conducted to benefit the launching of a College Book Collecting Contest next fall.

A revisit to one of my 125+ posts to my seven blogs (My Sentimental Library, Biblio-Connecting, Biblio Researching, Bibliophiles in My Library, Contemplations of Moibibliomaniac, The Displaced Book Collector, and Idlewild Blue Yonder), the purpose of which is to update, correct, inform, gloat over, or wonder why a particular post wasn't as popular as many of my other blog posts.

In my Nov 2015 blog post on John T. Winterich, I mentioned that I would be writing about Winterich's unpublished book, The First R and Other Related Enjoyments, "in the near future." The book contained 22 articles previously published in periodicals from the 1930s to the 1950s. I planned to reprint some of the bookish articles on My Sentimental Library blog. Fat chance! Winterich's articles are considered to be "orphan works" since a copyright owner can't be found and some of the publishers are defunct. Moreover, the periodical publishers still in business don't seem inclined to give approval "for leave to reprint." In short, I don't think I'll be publishing any of Winterich's articles anytime soon.

RECENT ACQUISITIONS

A Two-Tier Revolving Bookcase!

The Correspondence of Thomas Percy and William Shenstone edited by Cleanth Brooks, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977 (for this month's My Sentimental Library blog post).
The next six books are to research for a future blog post on the Wiseian Forgeries:Forging Ahead: the True Story of the Upward Progress of T. J. Wise by wilfred Partington, New York: G. Putnam's Sons, 1939 (duplicate-traded up)A Catalogue of Books and Pamphlets From the Library of Maurice Buxton Forman by Bernard Quaritch Ltd, London, 1973

Suppressed Commentaries on the Wiseian Forgeries. Addendum to an Enquiry by William Todd and John Carter, Austin: Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1969.

Letters of Thomas J. Wise to John Henry Wren: A Further Inquiry Into the Guilt of Certain Nineteenth-Century Forgers, Edited by Fannie E. Ratchford, New York: A. A. Knopf, 1944.

Literary Anecdotes of the Nineteenth Century: Contributions Towards a History of the Period by W. Robertson Nicoll and Thomas J. Wise, New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1896, two vols.

A Sequel to An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain XIXth Century Pamphlets by John Carter and Graham Pollard: The Book Forgeries of H. Buxton Forman and T. J. Wise Reexamined by Nicholas Barker and John Collins, New Caste, De: Oak Knoll Books 1992 (1st printed by the Scholar press in 1983).

A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold, New York: Crown, 2016 (currently reading for a local book club)

Hula Moons by Don Blanding, New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1949 (thirteenth printing, 1st published 1930 (purchased this one and the next eight books at the FOL book sale in Gainesville in April).

The Book: The Story of Printing and Bookmaking by Douglas McMurtrie, New York: Oxford University Press, 1980 (twelfth printing, 1st published 1943).

Every Book Its Reader: The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World by Nicholas A. Basbanes, New York: Harper Collins, 2005.

Charles Brown, President of the Florida Bibliophile Society, and yours truly, Jerry Morris, Vice President, present our guest speaker, Colette Bancroft, Book Editor of The Tampa Bay Times, with a keepsake and a book for her library at the FBS Banquet at Brio Tuscan Grille on May 15, 2016.

Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of Florida, writes about the book we gave him for being our guest speaker in March:

My Sentimental Library: Some Things Gotten in Denmark. This post will be about the books and other items I acquired in Denmark.

NOTE: I am writing an article about "The Bookstores of Copenhagen," which should appear in the September issue of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association Newsletter (UK). I will post the article to one of my blogs afterwards.

A Dictionary of the English Language by Joseph E. Worcester, LL.D, Boston: Swan, Brewer and Tileston, 1860

Hubert's Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, The Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus by Gregory Gibson, Orlando: Harcourt Inc., 2008A Scout's Report: My 70 Years in Baseball by George Genovese with Dan Taylor, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2015

Facts and Inventions: Selections from the Journalism of James Boswell edited by Paul Tankard, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014

Memorial of John Allan by [Evert A. Duyckinck], New York: Printed for the Bradford Club, 1864.

See My Sentimental Library blog post, "Some Things Gotten in Denmark," for the books I acquired in Denmark.

The members of the Florida Bibliophile Society are still enjoying their summer vacation. One member, however, Fantasy and Science Fiction author E. Rose Sabin, has been busy getting her website redesigned.

A talk and power point presentation on the Silver Fork novelist Catherine Gore (1799-1861) by Gary Simons at the September meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society. When: 1:30 pm, Sunday, Sept 25th, Where: Seminole Community Library, 9200 113th St N. Seminole Fl. 33772

The photo above of Gary Simons is "down homey" for a man who was a Chemistry professor, quit after attaining tenure, worked in the private sector, became vice president of two different companies, and then retired. Always a reader, Gary went back to school, got his doctorate in English Literature, did his dissertation on William Makepeace Thackeray's Journalism, and while doing that, discovered the Silver Fork novelist Catherine Gore. Catherine Who? You'll find out at the September meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society.

Is the winter weather just too darn cold for you? If you're coming to the Tampa Bay area in January, the Florida Bibliophile Society is extending a warm invitation to one bibliophile to be the guest speaker at our January 15, 2017 meeting. We pay no expenses and offer no monetary honorariums. But previous guest speakers have been known to receive a book from an FBS member's library (usually mine, of late), and an engraved keepsake of the occasion. Please contact me by Sep 25th (moibibliomaniac at gee male dot com). We would love to hear about your bibliophilic interests.

Bill Nye's History of the United States by Bill Nye, Illustrated by F. Opper Chicago: Thompson & Thomas 1906 First published in 1894.
Fighters Defending the Reich : a selection of German wartime photographs from the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz by Bryan Philpott, Northamptonshire: Patrick Stephens Limited, 2nd ed 1988

Inserted in the last book was a July 2002 reply from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum citing two sources about how much fuel remained after the completion of Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris.

Table Talk: A Transcendentalist's Opinions on American Life, Literature, Art and People From the Mid-Nineteetnth Century Through the First Decade of the Twentieth by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn; edited by Kenneth Walter Cameron, Hartford: Transcendental Books, 1981 25 cents at the Alachua County FOL Sale Oct 22nd!

Experiments in Autobiography: Discoveries and Conclusions of a Very Ordinary Brain (Since 1866) by H. G. Wells, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1934

I enjoy hearing from my blog readers. And on October 11th, 2016 I was surprised to receive an email from a person who initially identified herself as "a Danish woman living in Melbourne, Australia." She said that she too loved Copenhagen, and enjoyed reading my two Danish blog posts, Some Things Gotten in Denmark and The Bookstores of Copenhagen. And as a member of the Johnson Society of Australia (JSA), she was glad that I acquired some Johnson books while in Copenhagen. Dr. Merete Colding Smith, Honorary Fellow, University of Melbourne Library, was the Dane who wrote me! In the course of a few emails, I told her about my Mary Hyde Collection (the JSA's second patron). And I learned that the President of the JSA, John Byrne was a Mary Hyde Collector as well. The late Paul Ruxin mentioned another Mary Hyde Collector when he visited my library in 2005, and I believe he was referring to John Byrne. Merete gave me John Byrne's email address. I sent him links to my Mary Hyde posts. And he sent me a parcel full of pamphlets, all but one of which the JSA published.

And John Byrne mentions me in the Nov 2016 issue of The Southern Johnsonian, which explains the recent increase in blog page views from that part of the world!

John Byrne has one of the largest Johnsoniana Collections in private hands–10,000 items. And, like me, he has a Books About Books Collection and an Austin Dobson Collection–but probably ten times the size of my collections! In July 2015, Carolyn Webb wrote about John Byrne's Johnsoniana Collection in The Age: 50-Year Book Obsession Still a Thrill :

As for Merete Colding Smith, I believe our paths will cross in Copenhagen sometime in the next few years.

The Southern Johnsonian by the Johnson Society of Australia, May/August/Novenber 2016

The Death of the Author & The Lives of the Poet by Ian Donaldson, Melbourne: The Johnson Society of Australia (The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture, 1994) 1994

Flights of the Mind: Johnson and Dante by Peter Steele, Melbourne: The Johnson Society of Australia (The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture, 1996) 1997

'Pall Mall and the Wilderness of South Wales' Samuel Johnson, Watkin Tench and 'Six' Degrees of Separation by Clive Probyn, Melbourne: The Johnson Society of Australia (The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture, 1997) 1998

Johnson and the Macquarie by Nicholas Hudson, Melbourne: The Johnson Society of Australia (The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture, 1998) 1999

Johnsonian Quizzes by Bryan Reid, London: Published by Dr. Johnson's House Trust to mark the tercentenary of Johnson's birth in 2009

Remembering Albert Sperisen by William Pusey Barlow, San Francisco: The Book Club of California, 1999.

Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America, 2016The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. by James Boswell, Edited by Arnold Glover, With an Introduction by Austin Dobson, Volume the First, London: J. M. Dent, New York: McClure, Phillips & Co. 1901

Anything Can Happen: A Poem and Essay by Seamus Heaney with translations in support of amnesty, Dublin: Town House, 2002

On Sunday, March 19, 2017 the members of the Florida Bibliophile Society and their guests met The War Virgin: Laura Westley, a West Point graduate and Iraqi War Veteran who read from parts of her book, War Virgin. And she told us about some of her experiences at West Point and during the Iraq invasion known as Operation Iraqi Freedom that weren't mentioned in her book. One long-time FBS member said it was the best presentation he's heard! And almost everyone who didn't already have a copy of War Virginbought a copy of her book.

Thanks go to Gordon M. Pradl and Samuel B. Ellenport for compiling and editing this book. Paul Ruxin was a lover of poetry and wrote about Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Rolph Humphries in Friday Lunch; talks he gave before the members of the Rowfant Club.

Notae Bene: The subscription edition contains material not available in the open-access downloadable file published by the Trustees of Amherst College.

Many thanks go to James Caudle, former Associate Editor of the Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell, for providing the many Boswell catalogues and handlists to me for use in cataloguing the Boswell Library on Library Thing. He kept us busy cataloguing the Boswell Library from October 2008 to August 2012! Jim recently left Yale in order to live year-round in Scotland where he continues to research and publish on Boswell.

Since the beginning of the New Year, you, my readers, have viewed my monthly Biblio-Connecting blog posts significantly more than you have viewed my monthly Sentimental Library blog posts! That's why I selected Biblio-Connecting as my blog pick of the month.

My Biblio-Connecting Blog Monthly Pagecviews

My Sentimental Library Blog Monthly Pageviews

My Sentimental Library blog still remains my most popular blog, mainly because there are over eighty blog posts for readers to choose from. But, thanks to you, my Biblio-Connecting blog is becoming more popular!

The Age of the Grand Tour: Containing Sketches of the Manners, Society and Customs of France, Flanders, the United Provinces, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in the Letters, Journals and Writings of the Most Celebrated Voyagers Between the Years 1720 and 1820... New York: Crown Publishers, 1967

William Caxton and His Critics: A Critical Reappraisal of Caxton's Contributions to the Enrichment of the English Language by Curt Ferdinand Bühler, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1960

Central Building Guide by New York Public Library, New York: Printed at the New York Public Library, 1922

Pasco Collector's Hobby Is One For the Books by Ronnie Blair, New Port Richey, Fl: reprinted by Don Brady, n.d. A Tampa Tribune article about book collector-turned bookseller George Spiero (one of the bookies).

The Thrales of Streatham Park by Mary Hyde, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978, third printing. Inscribed: For Arthyr Prager - a good friend to Dr Johnson & the Thrales Mary Hyde Dec 1983, a gift from Gary & Jean SimonsThe Light of Asia; or, the Great Renunciation, Being the Life and Teachings of Gautama by Edwin Arnold, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881

Many thanks to Rare Book Hub for providing free online access to its Rare Book Transaction History Database for the book evaluations performed by the Florida Bibliophile Society during the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

The members of the Florida Bibliophile Society and their guests enjoyed the afternoon together. We had our annual season-ending banquet at Brio Tuscan Grille in the International Plaza in Tampa. The food was delicious! Emma Gregory read her winning essay for the First Annual Lee J. Harrer Student Book Collecting Contest, and three of the honorable mentions in the contest, Josie Bready, Elan Pavlinich, and Rachel Shields, were introduced and recognized at the dinner. Moreover, every person at the banquet received an impressive keepsake created by FBS President Charles Brown, which contained the top five essays in the contest. Our keynote speaker, Mike Slicker, celebrating his 40th year as a bookseller and proprietor of Lighthouse Books, kept us enlightened and sometimes amused with his recollections as a bookseller. Finally, our silent auction was a roaring success. People went home with books they wanted. And The Florida Bibliophile Society netted $381, which will go towards the Second Annual Lee J. Harrer Student Book Collecting Contest.

My Sentimental Library blog post in January was on Austin Dobson. And my post for May was on Augustine Birrell. So I was surprised when I found Augustine Birrell's ownership inscription on one of Dobson's books in the Digital Repository of Arizona State University Library. I have provided two samples of Birrell's writing below to compare. It's him.

An Impartial and correct History of the War Between the United States of America, and Great Britain; comprising a Particular Detail of the Naval and Military Operations, and a Faithful Record of the Events Produced During the Contest by Thomas O'Connor, New York: John Low at Shakspear's Head, 1816, 3rd edition.

Grandma & Me: A Conversations To Keep Recordable Book by Hallmark, 2011

This picture is responsible for my blog pick this month. It normally hangs on the side of the bookcase where the books of my New York Collection are. Looking at that picture brings back many enjoyable memories of baseball both as a player, a fan, and as an umpire. I was thinking of writing about these memories in a blog post, titled "Maris, Mantle and Me." But first, I wanted to make sure that no one else had used the title before. Someone did! Jack H. Markowitz of Philadelphia included the words in the title of a poem he posted on his blog, Please Ask, Do Tell

Ruth, Maris, Mantle and Me
When you are
Standing
In the batter’s box
And taking
Your turn
At bat
And you are
Going for
The record
And swinging
For the fences
It doesn’t matter
If you strike out
Once or twice

What matters
Most
Is connecting
Bat to ball
And sending
That beautifully
Stitched object
Over the fences
And into
The stands

Not even
The roar
Of the crowd
Can be heard
As you listen
To your heart
Pounding
In your ears
As you are
Rounding
The bases
And heading
For home
While waving
Your hat
To acknowledge
The fans
Who really
Care
And who
Have been
Rooting you on
Through thick
And thin
Through
Good times
And bad

Through the times
When you were
In a slump
And you
Could not
Find the strike zone
Even with the
Assistance of a
Seeing Eye dog

When I was
In a slump
In a funk
And couldn’t
Find my way out
I could hear the
Boos and taunts
And
I could feel
The tossed
Brick a brats
That came
Sailing out of
The stands

Throw the bum out!
Came the catcalls
Feed him to the dogs
Leave him on the road
As road kill!
And trade him for
Anyone
Because Anyone
Would be better than
Him!

Nothing is more
Fickle
Than the roar
And approval
Of the crowd

If you can count
Among your
Many admirers
And acquaintances
One true friend
Then consider
Yourself
The most blessed
Of all men

The imposters
Poseurs
Hangers on
And
Troglodytes
Come
In every shape
And every size
And they
Are always
Ready
To greet you
So long as you have
A paycheck
To cash

But as the old
Ditty used to say
Nobody
Loves
You
When
You’re
Down
And out

So please
Don’t worry
Or fret
My so-called
Buddies and
My so-called
Friends
I wasn’t going
To ask you
If you could
Spare
A
Dime

Frederick Locker-Lampson, A Character Sketch: With a Small Selection of Letters Addressed to Him and Bibliographical Notes on a Few of the Books Formerly in the Rowfant Library by Augustine Birrell, London: Constable and Company, 1920

The Life & Times of Leigh Hunt: Papers Delivered at a Symposium at the University of Iowa, April 13, 1984, Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of Leigh Hunt's Birth by Robert A. McCown, Iowa City: Friends of the University of Iowa Library, 1985.

Leigh Hunt and the True Sun: A List of Reviews, August 1833 to February 1834 by David H. Stam, New York: NYPL, 1974 (offprint from the Summer 1974 issue of the Bulletin of the New York Public Library)

Harsh Words: An Address Delivered at a Meeting of the American Institute of Graphic Arts in New York City by T. M. Cleland, New York: The American Institute of Graphic Arts, 1940.

"Magnificence of Promises:" Samuel Johnson and Advertising by Kate Burridge, The David Fleeman Memorial Lecture 2013, Melbourne: The Johnson Society of Australia, 2017The Message of the Scrolls by Yigael Yadin, New York: Simon and Shuster, 1957 (3rd printing)

The Bluffer's Guide to Literature by Martin Seymour-Smith and Eugene Rachlis. New York: Crown Publishers, 1971

The Fine Art of Printing: An Address Delivered Before a Convention of the American Library Association at Berkeley, California in 1915 by T M. Cleland, New York: NYPL, 1960

Edmund Geste and His Books by David G. Selwyn, London: Bibliographical Society, 2017

Books on Ice: British & American Literature of Polar Exploration by David H. Stam & Deirdre C. Stam, New York: The Grolier Club 2005The Newberry Library Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 10, May 1979 (contains "Footnotes to the History of Classification" by David H. Stam)

"Congering" the Past: The Books of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84), Before and After by David H. Stam, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2013 (an offprint from North by Degree: New Perspectives on Arctic Exploration, a 2013 publication by the American Philosophical Society of a lecture delivered five years earlier at the International Polar Year symposium at the Philadelphia Museum of Natural Science)

"Prove All Things: Hold Fast That Which Is Good": Deaccessioning and Research Libraries by David H. Stam, [Chicago]: ACRL, 1982 (an offprint from College and Research Libraries, January 1982)

"Innocents on the Ice:" The Evolution of an Exhibition by David H. Stam, New Yoek: Grolier Club, 2006 (an offprint from Gazette of the Grolier Club, Number 57, 2006)

Bassett Jones, the Grolier Club, and the 1932 Polar Exhibition: Two Thousand Items and Counting by David H. Stam, New York: Grolier Club, 2010, {an offprint from Gazette of the Grolier Club, No. 61, 2010)

Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America's Universities by David Golden, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2017 (Advance Reader Copy–book due out Oct 2017)

The Italian Letter: How the Bush Adminisitration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq by Peter Eisner and Knute Royce, Emmaus, Pa: Rodale, c2007

No Phoenix, No Ashes: The United Nations and Its First Years by Bruce McCullen, York, Pa: Maple Press, 1951

The Six Nations of New York: The 1892 United States Extra Census Bulletin by Robert W. Venables, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.

The Gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John, Together With the Acts of the Apostles, According to the Authorized King James Version, with Reproductions of Religious Paintings in the Samuel H. Kress Collection by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York: Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1959.

Sir Tristrem: A Metrical Romance of The Thirteenth Century by Thomas of Erceldoune, Called The Rhymer. Edited From the Auchinleck Ms. by Walter Scott, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company 1811

And finally

Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia of the World's Knowledge New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, [1912], 25 volumes (This set rests on a makeshift shelf which fits on top of the bookcase in the hallway outside of my library proper).

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This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson, New York: Harper, 2010

The Adventures of Max and Sandy: Three Short Stories About a Yellow Labrador Retriever Named Max and a Siamese House Cat Named Sandy who Solve Mysteries by A. E. Talone, Enumclaw, Wa.: Annotation Press, 2006 (signed by author)

Answer to Photography Quiz:
If you answered "c" you are correct.

Says my son, a civilian weatherman for the U.S. Air Force :

"When you were taking 8 second exposures to capture lightning and didn't realize the shutter was pressed again as you started walking back inside.

Shame I'm not an already famous photographer; I could probably call this 'art' and sell it!"

The English Dictionary From Cawdrey to Johnson, 1604-1755 by DeWitt T. Starnes, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946

Noah Webster and the American Dictionary by David Micklethwait, Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 2000

A History of Book Illustration: The Illuminated Manuscript and the Printed Bookd by David Bland, London: Faber and Faber, 1969

Nomonhan 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shaped World War II by Stuart D. Goldman, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2012 (inscribed by the author at his presentation before the Florida Bibliophile Society on 10/15/17)

The Mobility of the Negro; A Study in the American Labor Supply by Edward Erwin Lewis, New York: Columbia University Press, 1931

My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson by Alfred Havbegger, New York: Random House, 2001

A Short History of the English People by John Richard Green, London: Macmillan, 1894 ($5 complete in 4 vols- needs rebacking-added to my bookbinding pile)

There have been 482 visitors to my continuous Biblio-Connecting blog post July 5, 2011 to the Present in the month of November 2017, That's not to say they read all the posts; just that they read at least part of it. :-)

The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual 4 edited by Paul J. Korshin, New York: AMS PressThe Age of Johnson: Essays Presented to Chauncey Brewster Tinker edited by Frederick W. Hilles, New York: AMS Press, 1978 (first published by Yale University Press in 1949)The Tinker Library: A Bibliographical Catalogue of the Books and Manuscripts Collected by Chauncey Brewster Tinker compiled by Robert F. Metzdorf, Storrs-Mansfield: Maurizio Martino [c1995] (first published by Yale University Library 1959)

Private Papers of James Boswell from Malahide Castle In the Collection of Lt-Colonel Ralph Heyward Isham 5 : Porzia Sansedoni, Love-Letters of James Boswell Written in Italy 1765 With Other Records of His Italian Tour prepared by Geoffrey Scott, [Mount Vernon: Rudge] 1929Boswell in Holland 1763-1764 (Yale Editions of the Private Papers of James Boswell) edited by Frederick A. Pottle, London: William Heinemann, 1952 (No. 878 of 1,050 copies printed)

Since “the death of the book” was proclaimed in the late 1990s, print publishing has exploded. Traditional books have been joined by new content and new formats: pop-up books and coloring books have moved into the adult category; comic books have expanded into graphic novels that are regularly reviewed in the New York Times and other serious venues; and artist’s books, once rarely seen, have now become a standard part of many publisher’s catalogs. Charles Brown, FBS vice president and newsletter editor, and an exhibited book artist himself, will discuss the book as a medium for art, both in unique productions and in the increasingly popular and critically important area of graphic novels.

I came across my blog pick of the month while cataloguing the library of the American lexicographer Joseph E. Worcester on Library Thing. Whenever possible, I like to include a photo of the title page. I found one for A New Dictionary of all the Cant and Flash Languages... on Reid Copping's blog, The Dastardly Dialect, and was impressed with the information on his blog.

The Second Chapter From the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, One hundred copies printed and hand illuminated by Valenti Angelo [New York: Golden Cross Press, 1936] A gift from Lee HarrerUncle Sam: In the Eyes of His Family by John Erskine, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1930 (Harry B. Smith's copy with his bookplate, No. 101 of 356 copies printed)American Inventions and Inventors by Arthur May Mowrey, Boston: Burdett and Co. circa 1900

The Historian as Detective; Essays on Evidence by Robert W. Winks, New York: Harper & Row, 1969

Familiar Quotations: A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by John Bartlett, Garden City: Garden City Publishing Co., 1944 11th ed. (edited by Christopher Morley and Loella D. Everett)

The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford and Cromer Road: Sport and History on an East Anglian Road by Charles George Harper, London: Chapman & Hall, 1904 (my wife and I drove these roads in the late 1980s looking for books and antiques).

No Place to Hide by David Bradley, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948 (Atomic bomb tests in Bikini Atoll)

In addition to the $500 First Prize provided by the Florida Bibliophile Society, there will be two runner-up prizes of $100 each, provided by the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association and by Michael Slicker, Proprietor of Lighthouse Books in St. Petersburg. Kudos to Joshua G. Steward for designing the contest poster!

The Practice of Typography: A Treatise on Spelling Abbreviations, the Compounding of Words, the Proper Use of Figures and Numerals, Italic and Capital Letters, Notes, Etc. with Observations on Punctuation and Proof-Reading by Theodore Low De Vinne, New York: The Century Co. 1904, Second edition.

It Occurs To Me That I Am America edited by Jonathan Santlover,New York: Touchtone 2018. All royalties go to the ACLU.

Uncle Sam in the Eyes of His Family by John Erskine, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill 1930, No. 101 of 356 copies printed. Harry B Smith's copy with his bookplate.

Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, New York: Henry Holt 2018

The Microbibliophile: A Bimonthly Journal about Miniature Books and the Book Arts edited by James M. Brogan, North Branch, N.J. The Microbibliophile LLC. Jan 2018

It Happened in Brooklyn: An Oral History of Growing Up in Brooklyn in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s by Myrna Frommer, New York: Harcourt Brace 1993

The Iliad of Homer Done Into English Prose by Andrew Lang, Walter Leaf, and Ernest Myers New York: Carlton House n.d.

Major British Writers, Enlarged Edition, Vol I edited by G. B. Harrison, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World 1959

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer, New York: Simon and Schuster 2016

Legends: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy edited by Robert Silverberg, New York: Tom Doherty Associates 1998. For my grandson Dylan who enjoys reading Fantasy.

Selections for Written Reproduction, Designed as an Aid to Composition, Writing, and Language Study by Edward R. Shaw, New York: D. Appleton and Company 1886. A gift from my sister-in-law Annie Fiorelli.

The Lee J. Harrer Student Book Collecting Essay Contest ended last night. And the judges are making their decision. But I can tell you that there are more than a few young book collectors out there. We just need to get their attention!